B 357979
DUPL
TESTIA
7
:་ ་
ARTES
1837
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY
VERITAS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
E-PLURIBUS UNUM
[
TUF BOR
SI QUAERIS-PENINSULAM·AMOENAME
CIRCUMSPICE
!
TK
140
.556
P7
THE LIFE
OF
SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS,
F.R.S.,
D.C.L., LL.D.

fredart
Charles William Siemens
From a Photograph by Van der Wayde
THE LIFE
OF
41004
SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS,
F.R.S.,
D.C.L., LL.D.
MEMBER OF COUNCIL OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
BY WILLIAM POLE, F.R.S.,
HON. SECRETARY OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
AUTHOR OF THE LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN, BART.,
TECHNICAL CHAPTERS IN THE LIVES OF ROBERT STEPHENSON AND OF I. K. BRUNEL
ETC., ETC.
WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1888.
[All Rights reserved.]
LONDON:
Bradbury, Agnew, & co., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS
UNIFORM WITH THE LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS.
With Illustrative Plates and a Copious Index, 3 Vols., Svo.,
THE
SIR
SCIENTIFIC WORKS
OF
WILLIAM SIEMENS
D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., &c.
Each Volume Comprises ORIGINAL PAPERS and REMARKS IN
DISCUSSION OF PAPERS on SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS.
VOL. I.-HEAT AND METALLURGY.
With 47 Plates.
VOL. II.-ELECTRICITY AND MISCELLANEOUS.
With 37 Plates.
VOL. III.-ADDRESSES AND LECTURES.
With 11 Plates.
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
PREFACE.
I HAVE again been called on to aid in laying
before the public an account of the Life and Work
of an eminent member of my own profession; the
reason being, as in former cases, an impression that
occupations and pursuits so largely technical would
be most appropriately described by some one
familiar with them.
I may further plead the justification of a close
personal intimacy with Sir William Siemens during
the greater part of his residence in England; and
the fact of his having, a few years before his death,
specially asked me to undertake some important
literary work connected with his professional and
scientific labours.
This book may probably have three distinct classes
of readers, each differently interested in its contents.
The large circle of Sir William's private friends
vi
PREFACE.
may expect to find in it the history of all the varied
events of his chequered life; another large group
of experts may look more specially for full records
of his engineering and scientific labours; while the
general public may only desire to learn what manner
of man he was, and how he came to gain such
honour and popularity.
It has not been easy to provide simultaneously
for all these requirements: to chronicle personal
occurrences without appearing trivial, or to explain
technical details without being dull. I must crave
indulgence for any shortcomings, and shall be satis-
fied if I may have succeeded in making the book
generally readable.
This
In the last chapter there will be found a some-
what full mention of published obituaries and press
notices, called forth by Sir William's decease.
might perhaps seem to savour of ostentation; but it
has been the opinion of his friends that such spon-
taneous and widely-spread testimony to his character
and merits ought not to be ignored. It would
hardly be necessary for English readers, but as a
demand has been made for a German translation of
the work, the notices in question will furnish to his
PREFACE.
vii
compatriots a more unequivocal proof than could be
given by any other means, of the estimation in
which he was held in the country of his adoption.
In the many cases where it has been necessary
to mention Sir William's papers, communications,
lectures, addresses, and so on, the quotations from
them have been confined to such portions as were
necessary to complete the narrative or to make it
intelligible. The most important of these docu-
ments will be reprinted in the volumes accompany-
ing this work, and they can be easily referred to for
any further information that may be desired.
The history of Sir William's youth has been
drawn from reminiscences furnished by his brother
Werner; that of his early manhood has been
obtained chiefly from an enormous mass of German
correspondence, the deciphering of which I could
hardly have undertaken had I not been kindly
given most efficient aid by the executors. To
them (particularly to Mr. Alexander Siemens), as
well as to Lady Siemens and to other members
of Sir William's and her family, I have to express
my best acknowledgments for help in many ways
throughout the work.
viii
PREFACE.
My thanks are also similarly due to Sir William's
secretary, Mr. E. F. Bamber; Mr. James Forrest,
secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers; Mr.
Trueman Wood, secretary of the Society of Arts;
as well as to Sir Frederick Bramwell, Sir William
Thomson, Mr. W. H. Barlow, Mr. E. A. Cowper,
and many other friends.
ATHENÆUM CLUB, London, S.W.
September, 1888.
W. P.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
Grounds on which the Biographies of Engineers may claim Attention
-The Interest of such Biographies lies not only in the way a man
has done his Work, but largely in the nature of the Work itself—
What Engineering means: Derivation of the Word-Authorita-
tive Description by the Institution of Civil Engineers-Magnitude
and Importance of the Objects embraced in the Profession-
Necessity of Division of Labour-Special Branches taken up by
different Practitioners-General Nature of the Work to which
Sir William Siemens devoted his Life
PAGE
I
CHAPTER II.
PARENTAGE AND FAMILY.
Father, his Position and Character-Mother-Number of Children :
Werner, Hans, Ferdinand, William, Friedrich, Carl, Walter,
Otto-Daughters-Business Relations between the Brothers—
Family Customs--The "Siemens Stift.”
CHAPTER III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
Age to 19.
1823 to 1842.
Birth-Name-Character as a Child-Home Instruction-Choice of
a Future Career-School at Lübeck-Change of Plans-Werner's
Guardianship of his Brother—Advises that he should be an
7
X
·CONTENTS.
Engineer-Removed to a School at Magdeburg-Death of the
Parents-The University of Gottingen-Pupilage at an Engineer-
ing Factory at Magdeburg-Proposal for a Visit to England—
Compact for regular Correspondence between Werner and William
-William's early Engineering Efforts-Processes of Electro-
Gilding and Silvering-Need of Earning Money—Decision that
William should undertake a Journey.
PAGE
17
CHAPTER IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
Age 20 to 28.
1843 to 1851.
Visit to England, by way of Hamburg-Arrival in London-Trans-
actions with Messrs. Elkington-Sale to them of the Electro-
Gilding Patents - Return to Germany Second Journey to
London - The Chronometric Governor-Anastatic Printing—
Lecture by Faraday-Difficulties and Troubles-Improvement
in Air Pumps—Heat and its Applications—Residence in Man-
chester-The Regenerative Steam Engine-Arrangement with
Fox and Henderson - Regenerative Evaporation — Electrical
Work-The Factory of Siemens & Halske in Berlin-Appoint-
ment of William as Agent in England
-
39
CHAPTER V.
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE.
Age 29 to 36.
1852 to 1859.
Commences Business in London-The Regenerative Steam Engine
shown at the French Exposition-Continental Company for
working the Invention-Regenerative Evaporation-The Re-
generative Furnace - Frederick Siemens-Refrigeration — The
Water Meter-Its great Success-The Chronometric Governor-
Electrical Work-Submarine Cables-Workshop established at
Millbank in London-Domestic Life-Professor Lewis Gordon
and his Family-Mr. Siemens's Marriage and Naturalization as a
British Subject.
87
CONTENTS.
xi
CHAPTER VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
Age 37 to 46.
1860 to 1869.
Mr. Siemens's Position and Prospects at the beginning of this Period
-Elected Fellow of the Royal Society-The Regenerative
Furnace The Gas Producer-Lecture by Faraday-Success-
Puddling Furnaces—The Steel Manufacture-Messrs. Martin—
The Birmingham Sample Steel Works-Manufacture of Steel
Rails-The Landore Steel Works-Miscellaneous Inventions-
The British Association—Electrical Work—The Charlton Factory
-The Algerian Cable-The Indo-European Telegraph-Cable
in the Black Sea-Domestic Life
PAGE
126
CHAPTER VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS-continued.
Age 47 to 56.
1870 to 1879.
Mr. Siemens's Position-Heat and Metallurgy-The Steel Manu-
facture-High Quality of the Steel-Supply to the Admiralty-
Production of Steel directly from the Ore-Electric Telegraphs—
China Cables-Indo-European Telegraph-Delay by Accidents
and Earthquake-The Shah of Persia-The Direct Atlantic
Cable-The "Faraday" Cable Ship-Accidents in Laying-The
Brazilian Cable-Loss of the "La Plata "-Board of Trade
Enquiry The French Atlantic Cable-The Dynamo-Electric
Machine-History-The Siemens's Discoveries and Inventions—
Electric Lighting-Electric Transmission of Power-The Electric
Pyrometer-The Bathometer and Attraction Meter-The Deep
Sea Photometer-Armour Plating-Scientific Societies, Lectures
and Addresses-Domestic Life-Oxford Doctor's Degree —
Country House at Tunbridge Wells-Telegraph Conference
CHAPTER VIII.
LAST YEARS.
Age 57 to 60.
1880 to 1883.
Change in Dr. Siemens's Mode of Treating his Subjects-Heat-
The Gas Fire-place-The Smoke Abatement Movement—Gas as
a Heating Agent generally-Electric Telegraphs-Electric Light-
187
xii
CONTENTS.
ing-Electric Transmission of Power-Electric Railways—
Lecture at the Institution of Civil Engineers-The Electric
Furnace - Electric Vegetation-Electric Units-Miscellaneous
Subjects-The Constitution of the Sun and the Nature of the
Solar Energy-The Indian Engineering College-The Electrical
Thermometer-The Vienna Electric Exhibition-Presidency of
the British Association-Society of Arts-Institution of Civil
Engineers; the Howard Prize-French Electrical Exhibition—
Lectures and Addresses-Domestic Life-The Turners' Company
Honour of Knighthood-Congratulations-Illness; Last Work;
Death
•
PAGE
283
CHAPTER IX.
66
ANERKENNUNG."
Expressions of Sympathy-Telegrams from Royal Personages—
Funeral Service in Westminster Abbey-Memorial Window-
Éloge by Sir Frederick Bramwell—Obituary Notices-Resolutions
of Learned Societies-Press Notices-Lectures and Addresses-
Special Traits of Character
•
363
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Frontispiece.
PORTRAIT OF SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS
PORTRAITS OF WERNER VON SIEMENS, FREDERICK SIEMENS,
AND CARL SIEMENS
7
THE WATER METER
108
MAP OF THE LINE OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH
174
""
THE TELEGRAPH CABLE STEAMSHIP
FARADAY
208
SHERWOOD-THE HOUSE
•
•
279
THE GROUNDS
وو
279
MEMORIAL WINDOW IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY
378
The Portrait of SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS is engraved from a Photograph
taken by Mr. Van der Weyde, with the electric light, in 1880.
It was
published in "Nature" by Messrs. Macmillan, and is reproduced here by their
kind permission.
THE
OF
LIFE
SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS.
F. R. S.
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION.
I.
Grounds on which the Biographies of Engineers may claim Attention—
The Interest of such Biographies lies not only in the way a man
has done his Work, but largely in the nature of the Work itself—
What Engineering means: Derivation of the Word-Authoritative
Description by the Institution of Civil Engineers—Magnitude and
Importance of the Objects embraced in the Profession-Necessity
of Division of Labour-Special Branches taken up by different
Practitioners-General Nature of the Work to which Sir William
Siemens devoted his Life.
IN adding another Biography of an eminent Engineer to
the many already existing, it may not be out of place to
state briefly the grounds on which it is hoped that such a
book may have a claim to attention.
The interest of the Life of an Engineer will be found to
lie, not only in the personal character and doings of the
individual, but also, to a large extent, in the nature of his
occupations. This is an important peculiarity in engineer-
ing biography which must always be borne in mind in
estimating its value.
When an active worker in one of the more familiar walks
of life has merited a public record, it may be usually taken
for granted that the subjects of his labours will already be
49
B
2
[CHAP. I.
INTRODUCTION.
tolerably well known, and that the interest will depend on
his personal manner of dealing with them. But this is not
so with the Engineer. His profession is of such recent
origin, of such wide extent, and of such great variety,
that the ideas ordinarily prevailing in the public mind
respecting the works and operations comprised in it, are
necessarily very imperfect and vague.
Hence it follows that when a man has made his mark in
this profession, the nature of his work has to be explained
to the reader, as well as the manner in which he has done it.
And it may reasonably be expected that this additional
information will enhance the interest of the book, as well
as render it more intelligible. It may therefore be desir-
able here to say a few words on the profession of Engineer-
ing generally, and to explain the peculiar phases of it with
which Sir William Siemens had chiefly to do.
The term Engineer is popularly supposed to denote a
person who has to do with engines,-but this is a fallacy.
The true derivation of the word is of a much higher and
more honourable character. Littré has shown that its root
is to be found in the Sanscrit jan, to be born, from which
came the Greek form yev, and the Latin gen. The latter
entered into the French language in the form of a verb,
s'ingénier, which all the best authorities agree to be the
true origin of the word "Engineer." The meaning of this
French verb is stated to be,* "chercher dans son génie,
dans son esprit, quelque moyen pour réussir."
Thus we arrive at the interesting and certainly little
known fact, that an engineer is, according to the strict deri-
The author may
* Littré, Dictionnaire de la Langue Française.
venture to refer, for further historical details, to his "Life of Sir Wil-
liam Fairbairn, Bart." Large Edition. London, 1877. Chapters I.
and II.
CHAP. I.] THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION.
3
vation of the term, anyone who seeks in his mind, who sets
his mental powers in action, in order to discover or devise
some means of succeeding in a difficult task he may have.
to perform. It would be impossible to give a nobler or
more appropriate description than this, of the manner in
which our greatest engineering works have been produced,
or the nature of the qualifications by which the greatest
men in the profession have acquired their renown.
A year or two ago the Institution of Civil Engineers,
finding that some misunderstanding existed, even among
engineers themselves, as to the precise nature and extent
of the occupations legitimately constituting their pro-
fession, took some pains, for the sake of their own disci-
pline, to define them; and this formal definition, given by
the body exercising the chief guardianship of professional
interests, may therefore be received as fully authoritative.
The Council of the Institution quote a well-known early
definition given in their Royal Charter of Incorporation
passed in 1828, namely, that the profession of a Civil
Engineer is-
"The art of directing the great sources of Power in
Nature for the use and convenience of Man."
This is a very good description, as far as it goes, and we
shall see hereafter that it is peculiarly appropriate to the
labours of the subject of this Biography.
But the Council proceed to explain that the endea-
vour to utilise such powers has necessarily led to great
varieties of operations of a scientific character, constantly
enlarging their boundaries; so that, in the words of one of
the early masters of the profession, "The scope and utility
of Engineering will be increased with every discovery in
philosophy, and its resources with every invention in
mechanical or chemical science." They then state that,
according to modern usage, the practitioners in the art may
B 2
4
[CHAP. I.
INTRODUCTION.
have to do with many classes of works, giving the following
as examples :-
1. Works for facilitating and improving internal commu-
nications-as roads, railways, tramways, navigation by
canals and rivers, bridges, and telegraphs of various kinds.
2. Works connected with the sea-coast, and for facilitat-
ing communication between the sea and the land, such as
harbours, docks, piers, breakwaters, sea-walls, and light-
houses.
3. Works for facilitating communication across the seas;
including naval architecture, iron shipbuilding, and the
construction and laying of submarine telegraph cables.
4. Works for the reclamation, irrigation, or drainage of
land; and for the prevention or the regulation of floods,
including the improvement of rivers as arterial drains.
5. Works for cities and towns, such as sewerage, water
supply, lighting, and street improvements.
6. Large and massive buildings generally, in their
scientific and mechanical arrangements.
7. The operations of mining and of metallurgy, so far as
they involve the application of mechanical science.
8. The design and construction of the mechanical prime-
movers, such as steam-engines, water-wheels and other
hydraulic motors, windmills, electric and other engines.
9. The design, construction, and adaptation to practical
use of machinery and mechanical appliances of all kinds.
10. The design and manufacture generally of all large
and important metallic structures, including artillery, and
other large munitions of war.
As the Council justly remark, this is indeed a compre-
hensive catalogue, and if we consider the quantity of work
that has been done under these various heads during the
last century, and contemplate the effect that this work has
had on trade, on commerce, on finance, on government,
CHAP. I.] SIR WILLIAM SIEMENȘ'S WORK.
5
and indeed on every possible aspect of human interests, we
cannot hesitate to admit that the profession of Engineering
has become truly a great power.
Now it will be easily understood, considering the vast
extent and variety of the works comprised in the above
list, that it has been found convenient to apply largely
in the profession the plan of division of labour. The
general scientific principles underlying the whole are pretty
much the same; but the practical nature of the work to be
done is so varied that certain practitioners have found it to
their own interest, as well as to that of their clients, to con-
fine their practice to certain special kinds of work. Thus
some engineers devote their attention chiefly to railways and
their adjuncts; some to hydraulic constructions; some to
naval architecture; some to water and gas supply; some to
mining; some to metallurgy; some to electric works; some
to mechanical constructions; and so on.
In describing Sir William Siemens's connexion with the
profession, it would be easy to place him as a specialist in
certain of the classes named in the Institution list; but it
will be more appropriate to refer back in his case to the
earlier general characteristic, "the art of directing the
great Powers in Nature for the use and convenience of Man."
This was essentially the work of his life; he took two
great powers in nature, or, as he would have preferred to
say, two forms of natural energy, HEAT and ELECTRICITY,
and his life was chiefly and successfully devoted to direct-
ing them for the use and benefit of mankind.
In regard to Heat, his labours referred to new modes of
its application, which not only effected great economy, but
gave vast increase of power-advantages which may be
said to have almost revolutionized many manufacturing
industries. And as an outcome of this he was enabled, by
6
[CHAP. I.
INTRODUCTION.
new metallurgical processes, to extend enormously the use
and the value of one of the most important of constructive
materials known to Engineers.
In regard to Electricity, he contributed materially to the
inventions which gave it its wonderful modern develop-
ment, and to the establishment of manufactories on the
largest and most complete scale, which brought the new
power into extensive practical application for the benefit
of the world.
But all this work, fraught with such great results, was
not simple and easy to do; it involved long years of con-
stant mental study and practical effort, interspersed with
many trying difficulties, discouraging failures, and heavy
losses; and it was only by perseverance and determination
that success was at last attained.
To chronicle all this, in such a manner as to do justice
to Sir William Siemens's character, will require, as has
already been stated, a good deal of explanation, which,
though of a somewhat technical character, may, it is hoped,
contribute to the interest of the personal history. And it
may be added, that such was the activity of Sir William's
mind, and such the versatility of his powers, that in addition
to the two main objects of his work, he, particularly in
the latter portion of his life, gave attention to many other
matters which had little connexion with them, but which
from their philosophical nature and useful bearing are
eminently worthy of being recorded.
His life was one of continual thought, leading to con-
tinual activity, and resulting in continual usefulness. His
labours were fully appreciated, and his name cannot fail to
retain an honourable place in the records of the Engineer-
ing Profession.

FREDERICK
WE
NERVSIEMENS
SIEMENS
CARL
SIEMENS
CHAPTER II.
PARENTAGE AND FAMILY.
Father, his Position and Character-Mother-Number of Children:
Werner, Hans, Ferdinand, William, Friedrich, Carl, Walter, Otto
-Daughters-Business Relations between the Brothers-Family
Customs-The "Siemens Stift."
THE name of SIEMENS has been made famous by others
bearing it, as well as by the subject of this Memoir;
indeed it would be difficult to find a modern instance of a
family comprising so many individuals whose intellcctual
powers and technical genius have come prominently
before the world. And having regard to the fact that close
relations existed between William Siemens and several of
his brothers during his whole career, it is desirable to give
a somewhat full notice of the family generally.
The father, Christian Ferdinand Siemens, was born in
1789 at Wasserleben, on the northern edge of the Harz
Mountains. He was the youngest son in a large family,
and his ancestors had, for three centuries before, been
country people, engaged in the cultivation of the land.
Ferdinand, as he was called, married early, and settled
in the same line of life, at a small place called Lenthe, a
few miles from Hanover, where he held the position of
Domänen-Pächter, the title given to those who farm and
cultivate Government lands.
S
[CHAP. II.
PARENTAGE AND FAMILY.
He had received, in common with all his father's
children, a liberal education, and one of his brothers
became Professor of Mathematics at the University of
Halle.
In a document written by William in 1873,* he says
that his father had a good healthy organization; was
energetic and of a restless disposition; was passionate, but
tender-hearted; that his impatience was easily and forcibly
excited; that he actively pursued historical studies, and
had an excellent memory for historical events, including
dates and names in ancient and modern history; had a
studious and receptive mind; was independent in judg-
ment, with a high moral standard, but was decidedly
eccentric, in showing plainly his intense dislike to humbug
or mere formalism.
He was a fair classical scholar, but he had no pretensions
to scientific knowledge, or to any acquaintance with the
subjects on which his sons made themselves so famous.
The lady he married, by name Eleonore Deichmann,
born 1793, also came from a North German country family
residing near Hanover. Her son said of her that she was
of delicate figure, healthy when young, but subject to
nervous disorders in after-life. She had a good general
education; was high-minded and self-sacrificing; extremely
sensitive; and devoted to her children, but without in-
dulging them. She had a naturally religious mind, above
formalities, and with somewhat excessive sense of duty.
She was very gentle and amiable in character.
It is recorded that she was refined and cultured in her
tastes, and fond of poetry, sometimes writing it herself.
The couple had a large family, eleven sons and three
Kindly lent to the Author by Mr. Francis Galton.
CHAP. II.]
9
FATHER AND MOTHER.
daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter died in
infancy.
The occupation followed by Ferdinand Siemens was
fairly profitable, and he may be said to have been in com-
fortable circumstances; but his means were not so large as
to enable him to do more for all these children than to
give them the plain but substantial education which is
within the reach of the middle-classes in Germany.
In the year 1823, a few months after the birth of William,
he gave up his position at Lenthe and removed, with his
family, to a larger estate which he had leased at Menzendorf,
near Lübeck, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg.
Here he lived for the remainder of his days. His faithful
partner in life, worn out by the trials attendant on her large
family, died in July, 1839, and he, unable to bear up under
the heavy affliction of her loss, followed her six months
later.
A few years after his death, the estate at Menzendorf
was given up, and the children were dispersed among
relations and friends.
The eldest son, Ernst Werner von Siemens, "the Berlin
Siemens," as he is generally called, is deservedly looked
up to as the founder of the fortunes and the reputation
of the family, and he deserves special mention here from
the fact of his having always assumed towards his brother
William the position of his kindest patron, most trusted
adviser, and most affectionate friend.
*
Werner was born at Lenthe, in 1816, and received his
education at the Gymnasium of Lübeck. He showed an
* Some of the information in this chapter is taken, by permission
of the publishers, from an article in Cassell's Family Magazine, “A
Family of Inventors,” which was translated, by Lady Siemens, from a
German periodical.
ΙΟ
[CHAP. II.
PARENTAGE AND FAMILY.
inclination for the military profession, and in 1834 went to
Magdeburg to enter the Prussian Artillery service as a
volunteer. His eminent talents opened to him, in the
following year, the doors of the Military School in Berlin,
where he studied for three years, devoting his chief
attention to mathematics, mechanics, and chemistry. In
1838, having received his commission as lieutenant, he
returned to Magdeburg for active service, keeping up
however, continually, his scientific reading. A year or two
later he was transferred to the Technical Division of the
Artillery, at Spandau, and soon afterwards to Berlin.
In the meantime he had endeavoured to turn his scientific
knowledge to some account. He had interested himself
in the application of electricity to the deposition of metals;
he had taken out a patent for the process, and later on he
established in Berlin a small factory (the first in Germany)
for carrying it into practice.
In 1844 he was appointed to the important scientific
post of Superintendent of the Artillery workshops; and
this led him to throw himself with more ardour than ever
into scientific pursuits, especially in regard to electricity,
which was then beginning to acquire greater importance,
from the introduction of the electric telegraph. Werner
saw what a fertile field this invention would offer for his
labours, and as early as 1846, he brought out important
inventions relating to it, which gained him so much notice,
that in the following year he was named a member of the
commission for introducing the new telegraphs into Prussia.
At this time, too, he founded, in conjunction with a friend,
Mr. Halske, a manufactory of electrical apparatus in
Berlin.
But he was still a military officer, and in 1848 his duties
called him to Kiel, where Danish men-of-war threatened
the defenceless coast. Here, in conjunction with his
CHAP. II.]
II
: WERNER VON SIEMENS.
brother-in-law, Professor Himly, of Kiel, he laid the first
submarine mines with electric ignition, the precursors of
the modern torpedo. In the summer of the year 1848,
he, acting as commandant of Friedrichsort, built the after-
wards celebrated fortifications for the protection of the
harbour of Eckernförde.
In the autumn of the same year, he was recalled to
Berlin in order to erect for the Government the first line
of telegraphs in Germany, being that from Berlin to Frank-
fort-on-the-Maine, where at that time the first German
Parliament was assembled. This line was for its greater
portion laid under ground in accordance with his proposi-
tions, the conducting wires being for the first time insulated
by gutta-percha; an invention which afterwards proved of
much importance in the manufacture of submarine cables.
After this he left the army, and devoted his whole atten-
tion to his electrical pursuits. The factory, established
shortly before, soon acquired large dimensions, and became
one of the chief centres for the applications of electricity.
and magnetism in the industrial arts. The firm of Siemens
and Halske grew famous for the number of inventions and
improvements introduced by them, as well as for the high
quality and careful manufacture of the work they supplied.
At a later period this firm, with the co-operation of some
of Mr. Siemens's brothers, established large branch works
at St. Petersburg, Vienna, Paris, and elsewhere.
Werner von Siemens has also done much purely scientific
work, and many honours have been conferred on him. In
1860 the University of Berlin conferred on him a Doctorate
(honoris causâ); in 1874 he was elected a member of the
Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin; and he has lately
been created a Knight of the Prussian Order “pour le
Mérite," the highest scientific honour in that country, on
account of his distinguished services to science and the
I 2
[CHAP. II.
PARENTAGE AND FAMILY.
arts. He is an honorary member of many scientific socie-
ties in many countries, and in Germany, not only is his
name held in high esteem by men of science, but he is
deservedly popular among the German people, who daily
in their workshops are brought into contact with the results
of his inventive genius. He was raised to the rank of
nobility by the Emperor Frederick III., in 1888.
The second son, Hans, born 1818, originally followed his
father's pursuits; but afterwards devoted himself to indus-
trial occupations. He owned a spirit distillery, and con-
trived some new apparatus used therein. After the inven-
tion and perfecting of the regenerative furnace by his
brothers Frederick and William, he established large glass-
works at Dresden, for the purpose of applying the furnace
to that branch of manufacture, an improvement which was
very successful. He died in 1867.
The third son, Ferdinand, took entirely to his father's
career, and, after managing one or two different properties,
he purchased and settled on a large estate near Königs-
berg, in East Prussia, where he still resides.
The fourth son, William, is the subject of this biography.
The fifth son, Friedrich, “ the Dresden Siemens,” as he
is called, was born at Menzendorf in 1826.
Like his brothers, he was intended to pass through the
course of the gymnasium of Lübeck, but, having reached
the third class, the desire of liberty urged him to abandon
his place on the school bench, and to go forth into the
world. He went on board a merchant ship when scarcely
sixteen years of age, and there this youth, whose mental
capacities afterwards proved so great, worked before the
mast as a common sailor. After two years of this seafaring
CHAP. II.]
13
FREDERICK SIEMENS.
life his brother Werner tried to get him into the Prussian
marine service, but while waiting in Berlin for this appoint-
ment, Frederick was allowed to assist in the manifold ex-
periments of his brothers. This chained him with a power
very different from that which bound him to the ship, and
out of the young sailor there was soon formed a clever,
industrious, technical workman, who also afterwards became
an originator on his own account.
In 1848 Frederick was sent with telegraphic apparatus
to England, where he joined his brother William, and
studied under his direction. They remained together
many years, and the important part taken by Frederick in
regard to Heat Applications and the Regenerative Furnace
will be found chronicled in Chapters V. and VI.
When Hans Siemens died in 1867, Frederick undertook
the management of the large glassworks in Dresden, and
concentrated his talents on perfecting the manufacture
there, so placing these works among the most important
industrial establishments in Germany. He has also founded
three other similar factories in Bohemia and Saxony, which
give employment at present to two thousand workmen.
In addition to the regenerative system of heating, he
carried out an important invention in the "continuously
working glass furnace," in which the rough materials being
inserted at one end, the glass flows out thoroughly melted
and ready for working at the other end. A further discovery
of his is a new mode of cooling, which produces a material
called "toughened glass," of extraordinary resistance.
He has also paid much attention to the use of gas for
heating and lighting, and by applying the regenerative
principle he has constructed gas-burners giving a much
more powerful illumination than any previously used.
Since Sir William Siemens's death, Frederick has suc-
ceeded him in the management of that branch of the
14
[CHAP. II.
PARENTAGE AND FAMILY.
business connected with furnaces and heat applications
generally.
The sixth son, Carl Heinrich, was born in 1829.
He does not come much into the foreground as an
inventor, but he stands distinguished for the energy and
practical skill with which he has co-operated with his
brothers. He had a share in founding all their large
commercial undertakings, of most of which he is part
proprietor.
In 1853 the Berlin firm had undertaken the construction
and twelve years' maintenance of a great system of tele-
graphs throughout Russia, and this led to the establish-
ment in 1855 of a large branch factory at St. Petersburg,
which was at once taken charge of by Carl.
In 1869 he went to London, and took up actively his
position as one of the partners in the electrical works there.
Some years later he was engaged in the laying of the
Direct United States Cable, in the ship "Faraday." In
1880 he returned to Russia, where he still resides.
He has received many acknowledgments of his merits,
in orders from various sovereigns.
The seventh son, Walter, born 1832, was Prussian Consul
at Tiflis, and had the direction of large mining works in
the Caucasus belonging to Werner and Carl. He also took
part in the establishment of the Indo-European Telegraph,
and managed a branch of the telegraph-manufacturing
works established temporarily at Tiflis in 1863.
He was accidentally killed by the kick of a horse in
June, 1868.
The eighth son, Otto, born 1836, took Walter's place,
but he was very delicate, and died in 1871.
CHAP. II.]
15
BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
Of the two daughters who lived to adult age, one,
Mathilde, the eldest of the family, married, in 1838, Herr
Himly, an eminent scientific man, Professor of Chemistry
at the University of Göttingen, who had afterwards much
to do with William and other members of the family.
Herr Himly was appointed in 1846 to a more prominent
position at the University of Kiel, where his wife died
thirty years later.
The other daughter, Sophie, the youngest child but one,
married Dr. Carl Crome, of Lübeck, who, in 1875, was one
of those called to be Reichsgerichtsrath in Leipsic.
It will be gathered from the preceding notices that four
of the brothers, Werner, Williaıı, Carl, and Friedrich, were
brought much into business relations with each other, and
it may be added that (a circumstance not invariably pre-
vailing in such combinations) they worked at all times most
harmoniously together. Indeed, it is often now difficult to
define what was the precise personal share either of them
had in the many great inventions for which the world is
indebted to them. It may, however, be said that, in elec-
trical matters, Werner, William, and Carl were principally
associated, while in the metallurgical inventions Frederick
was William's chief coadjutor.
There was a strong general and mutual feeling of
affection and respect existing throughout the family. This
was shown on the occasion of the marriage of a grand-
daughter at Lübeck in 1871, when all the members of the
family attended who could possibly do so. They took the
opportunity of visiting Menzendorf, and of joining hands
round the parents' grave, an affecting and appropriate
address being delivered at the same time by Professor
Himly.
16
[CHAP. II.
PARENTAGE AND FAMILY.
It is also worth mentioning that a remarkable Siemens
Stift was founded some years ago for the promotion of
general good feeling in the family, and for the benefit of
those among them who were not in prosperous circum-
stances. It was arranged that once cvery five years all
members of the Siemens family, rich and poor, of direct
descent, should, if possible, meet at a certain pleasant
locality in the Harz mountains, and pass a day or two
together in social intercourse. At the same time the affairs
of any applicants for help were inquired into, and relief
was, in all deserving cases, afforded out of a fund kept up
by the subscriptions of the more wealthy families and indi-
viduals. William twice attended these meetings, which in
some cases were so large as to fill an entire hotel.
CHAPTER III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
Age to 19.
1823 to 1842.
Birth-Name-Character as a Child-Home Instruction-Choice of
a Future Career-School at Lübeck--Change of Plans-Werner's
Guardianship of his Brother-Advises that he should be an
Engineer-Removed to a School at Magdeburg-Death of the
Parents-The University of Göttingen-Pupilage at an Engineer-
ing Factory at Magdeburg-Proposal for a Visit to England—
Compact for regular Correspondence between Werner and William
-William's early Engineering Efforts - Processes of Electro-
Gilding and Silvering-Need of Earning Money Decision that
William should undertake a Journey.
CARL WILHELM SIEMENS was the seventh child, and the
fourth of the sons who lived to an adult age. He was born
at Lenthe on the 4th of April, 1823.
It is not unusual, in Germany, when several baptismal
names are given to a boy or girl, to repeat one name
already borne by a brother or sister. In this family,
another brother, born six years afterwards, was also named
Carl, and the elder one was thereafter usually designated
by his second name only. After his naturalization in
England, the German names became Charles William, and
although he signed with the initials C. W., he preferred to
be called, as in his youth, simply William.
He was a fairly strong and healthy child, although some-
what delicately organised, and he manifested, as an infant,
C
18
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
a very affectionate and sensitive disposition. While he
was "the baby" of the family, and the constant companion
of his idolized mother, he was noted for merrily singing
about the house; but on the birth of the next child, his
grief was so great at being supplanted in his position that
his song was heard no more. This sensitiveness was further
shown some years later, when the joking of his playmates
on his red hair annoyed him so much as to produce, it was
thought, a marked reserve and shyness in his behaviour.
There is no record of his having shown in early life any
partiality for mechanics, or of his having found any plea-
sure in the observation of mechanical objects or con-
trivances. He made no pigmy windmills, sailed no model
boats, did not damage the furniture by baby-carpentering,
or pull the clocks to pieces to see how they were made to
go. In short, the child was in no way the father of the
man who became one of the best mechanics in the most
mechanical country in the world.
The only way in which he gave any sign of his future
powers was by a careful and attentive observation of men
and things, which was manifested very early; for while
almost an infant he was fond of roaming about alone in the
fields and watching the labourers at their work from any
place of concealment he could find. His brother Werner
relates that one day in the harvest time, William, then only
three years old, was missing when the family assembled in
the evening. This naturally created great alarm, and dili-
gent search was made for him, but without success. At
the customary breakfast hour, however, the next day,
William appeared, complaining of cold, but otherwise very
comfortable. He had been hiding in a hedge to watch the
men in the field, had fallen asleep, and only awoke at
daybreak. The freedom from fear or uneasiness, manifested
by the child at such a tender age, showed signs of another
CHAP. III.]
19
SCHOOL AT LÜBECK.
quality which distinguished him in after life, namely, self-
reliance and independence of character.
The first instruction he had was from a resident tutor at
Menzendorf, along with his elder brothers, Werner, Hans,
and Ferdinand. But the time soon arrived when it was
necessary to think seriously of their prospects for the
future, and the parents seem in this matter to have
consulted and fallen in with the wishes of the boys
themselves. Werner had expressed a liking for a military
career, and he was accordingly allowed to enter the Artil-
lery Corps, while Hans and Ferdinand preferred to remain
in their father's occupation, although the former left it at a
later period for the more stirring life of a manufacturer.
When it came to William's turn to decide, we find again
no inclination shown for anything analogous to his ultimate
destination; he elected to devote himself to mercantile
pursuits, and as an appropriate preparation he was sent to
a school in Lübeck, called the Von Grossheim school. It
was a Kaufmann- or Handel-Schule, or what in England
would be called a "Commercial Academy," where a good,
plain education was given, but without any attempt to
impart refined literary or scientific attainments.
A curious evidence of the boy's power of observation at
this time was shown in an address given in the last year of
his life, where he described in great detail the constitution
of the German Trade Guilds, which he had made himself
acquainted with in these Lübeck school days.
On the 26th July, 1838, the mother wrote to Werner:
What is to become of Wilhelm we do not know; we cannot at
present settle him in Lübeck. Ferdinand [an uncle] has taken
much trouble, but he can find nothing suitable for him. We have
written to our cousin in Cologne, and perhaps he may go there.
C 2
20
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
This application was acceded to, and it was accordingly
settled that William should go as a pupil to the firm of
Messrs. Deichmann, bankers of Cologne. But before this
arrangement was carried into effect, Werner paid a visit to
his parents, and the subject of William's future career was
again discussed between them.
Werner had taken a great liking to this younger brother,
and interested himself strongly in his welfare. He appears
to have doubted whether the proposed occupation of
a merchant was a desirable one for him, and wished to
have the matter reconsidered. Since the choice had been
made Werner had seen much more of the world; his mind
had become enlarged, his views extended. He had been
for two or three years studying scientific and mechanical
subjects in the Artillery School, and a vista was opening
to him of a vast field of profitable occupation that
might be found in the technical applications of science to
industry.
Moreover he, with acute penetration, saw what had
hitherto escaped the observation of William's parents,
and had probably been unsuspected by William himself,
namely, that he possessed mental qualifications which
would, when properly cultivated and encouraged, ensure
for him success in scientific and mechanical pursuits.
He accordingly laid these views before the parents, and
after some hesitation on their part he succeeded in inducing
them to allow William to consider the propriety of giving
up the mercantile prospect, and of preparing himself for
a mechanical career:-Techniker zu werden, as it was
expressed in German ;-in other words, he proposed to
make him an engineer.
It does not appear that William himself shewed any
strong feeling in the matter either one way or the other
;
but he had great respect for his elder brother's judgment,
CHAP. III.]
2 I
SCHOOL AT MAGDEBURG.
and possibly he began to be better aware of his own
qualifications than formerly. At any rate he agreed to
Werner's proposal.
Having gained this point, Werner determined to bring
his brother under his own immediate care. He had just
been appointed to service in the garrison of Magdeburg,
and he arranged that William, who was now fifteen years
of age, should at once leave Lübeck, and go to a Gewerbe-
Schule (industrial school) at Magdeburg, where Werner
could observe and control his education. He accordingly
went there at Michaelmas, 1838, and entered on a course
of instruction of a more advanced description, including
the general principles of natural science, which Werner
was most anxious he should acquire.
But Werner had still further views and plans for his
brother. He wished not only to qualify him for scientific
occupation at home, but to fit him in a certain degree for
intercourse with strangers abroad, and he decided that he
ought to learn foreign tongues. French was included in
the Magdeburg school course; but Werner was not satisfied
with this, and he resolved that William should straightway
begin to study the English language.
But he found that, although English was taught at the
Magdeburg School, it could not be included in William's
course without omitting some other subject which it was
important for him to learn. To get over this difficulty,
Werner arranged that the omitted subject should be
mathematics, which he would contrive to teach the boy
himself. In this way William studied mathematics under
Werner's tuition in the early morning hours, before the
opening of the school and the commencement of military
duty. And so successful was this arrangement that when
22
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
the examinations came on, William passed in mathematics
with a high certificate of proficiency.
The change, however, was not altogether satisfactory to
the parents. On the 24th December, 1838, the father
wrote to William as follows:
I have been sorry to see that you are put into the third class.
How long will it be before you get into the first, and how did it
happen? Do your utmost to get out of it by Easter.
I really do not understand the school. No English in your
class! and only two or three hours a week for French. You
ought not to trouble yourself much about things which can be
afterwards learnt by lectures or reading, so easily and pleasantly.
Languages are the most important things for you; with these,
arithmetic and natural sciences, and also the mercantile knowledge
proper. I am anxious to hear, now you have full information,
how the time in the school is appropriated.
I send you herewith 50 Reichsthaler (£7 10s.), and hope you
have not long been in difficulty. I should have preferred that
you had been in a respectable and good house, boarding entirely;
soldier-life is not good for you [alluding to his being so much
with his brother Werner]. Much may still be arranged. Take
care of your most valuable time; be frugal and economical, but
without denying yourself anything absolutely necessary. If you
find pleasure in follies, and in anything beside improving your
mind, you will come to nothing.
*
What sort of a fellow is Siemens's son? How comes it that he,
in his sixteenth year, sits only in the third class? Is he wanting
in brains?
Now farewell, my dear son; become an able, capable fellow,
then will it surely go well with you in the world; but otherwise-
Dein treuer Vater,
C. F. SIEMENS.
Soon after this the first great grief of William's life came
upon him by the death of his mother, whom he passion-
CHAP. III.]
23
MOTHER'S DEATH.
ately loved. She was comparatively young, only 46,
and was naturally healthy; but the trial of bearing fourteen
children in quick succession, combined with the domestic
cares of rearing them and of her household affairs generally,
had broken down her constitution, and she became subject
to nervous disorders.
She had been ailing for some time, but in December,
1838, her husband stated she was getting better; and
again, on the 3rd April, 1839, he wrote to Werner :-
I can give you good news of your mother's health. She has
improved daily, and will probably soon be perfectly recovered.
But this hope was delusive; she became rapidly worse,
and after much suffering she died on the 8th of July.
The following letter was written by the father to Werner
a fortnight after her decease; and it contains the first
positive indication of the failure of his own health also.
He had been always considered a strong man; he was
then in the prime of life, and in his letter of the 24th
December, 1838, he had said, "We are perfectly well."
DEAR WERNER,
16th July, 1839.
I pity you sincerely, on account of the mournful news
that I have to give you. You both know, I am sure, what a
rich capital of affection the dear departed one had invested in
you.
A
I can yet hardly collect myself, probably on the ground that
my health is not yet restored. The cough, palpitations of the
heart, the constantly increasing pulse, the disturbed circulation,
caused by every little exertion, and the incredible weakness, will
not abate, but have, in this great excitement, become worse.
slow walk through the garden lays me in bed. When I feel strong
enough I will ask Dr.
what my state really is; for
the first time in my life I am anxious about it. For (horrible to
say) if I do not live to be seventy years old, I shall have to leave
helpless orphans behind.
in
2
24
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
I must confess that it is a comfort to know that the dear
departed one is free. For in her state there was no hope, and a
longer life would only have implied a longer suffering.
I should like to see you here, for I want more accurate news
about William. I should like him to make a journey to Colleda
and the Harz.
He spoke further of domestic difficulties, of the failing
of his crops through bad weather, and of the scarcity of
money, and ended :—
Now farewell, dear son; let me soon see something of you, and
do not use such a thick envelope, which makes your letter cost
a-half extra postage.
C. FERD. S.
By the same post he wrote to William, but in quite a
different strain. He said not a word about the mother, or
about troubles of any kind; but seemed desirous to inspirit
him for his contemplated journey to the Harz, by telling
him some of the historical legends, of which he had in his
memory an ample store. The close of his letter is also
very characteristic of his literary taste.
DEAR WILLIAM,-
16th July, 1839.
I shall be glad if you can make a journey to Colleda [in
the Harz mountains], and make the acquaintance of my old
brothers and sisters. Your uncle Augustus is an excellent man ;
aunt Gretchen has always been considered by everyone as the
crown of her sex, and I have for a long time loved and honoured
her.
.Coming back you may pass by Sachsenburg, Frankenhausen,
and the Kiffhäuser. There Friedrich Barbarossa has lived long,
and lives yet in the popular legend: there sits he still in the
heart of the mountain, and sleeps; and his red beard is grown
through the stone table; and he will wake up and again seize his
mighty Kaiser-sword, when Germany's disgrace has reached its
utmost limit.
CHAP. III.]
25
FATHER'S LAST ILLNESS.
There also his faithful esquire, the Smith Poltermann, from
Jüterbog, the discoverer of the scythe, bustles about and brews his
beer, as may be seen in the steam and fog caps to the summits of
the hills foretelling changes of weather.
Also, if you have time enough, visit the Mendeben Monastery,
the still greater monument of German greatness. This was the
customary halting place of Henry I., and of the great Otto, from
which time there has been nothing but disgrace and misery
in Germany. I have never seen this place without painful
emotion.
Do you not know the great importance of punctuation both in
speaking and writing? Your manner of writing is, in this respect,
almost ridiculous. You may learn this from a housemaid or from
a crossing-sweeper. You make commas where full stops ought to
be. The shorter the periods, the rounder the ideas; the more full
stops, the more precise and concise, and consequently the clearer
and better, is the style. You make also many blunders in spelling,
and show no signs of instruction in the German language.
The following, addressed to William, is the last of the
father's letters that has been preserved :-
DEAR SON,-
MENZENDORF, 12th Nov., 1839.
Now that I am at last able to do so, I send you some
money. I have never been in such want of funds as in this
autumn. I have often thought of you with sorrow. I would
willingly have sent what you will want till Easter, but I shall be
only too glad if I get through the time myself.
*
*
*
※
In August I was stronger, but the melancholy and care threw
me back again. The most cruel cough and pain in the chest
have confined me to my bedroom for three weeks. I believed I
should not last longer than until the appearance of the snowdrops;
but the pain and the fever have abated.
Dear William, it may be well with you if you are industrious,
and show a true scientific spirit. Without mind, even real industry
is of little avail.
26
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
The young ones are all happy.
been of considerable help to you.
your future in view.
Greet Werner, who must have
Answer soon, and keep always
Dein treuer Vater,
C. F. SIEMENS.
The poor broken-hearted man did not even live to the
time he had so pathetically allotted himself; he never saw
the harbingers of spring; he died, aged only fifty-three, on
the 16th of January, 1840.
This sudden break-up of the household caused deep
anxiety in regard to the prospects of the family, for the
father had left his affairs in by no means a prosperous
condition. The eldest daughter had married shortly before,
but the other nine children, some very young, were but
scantily provided for. In this strait the duty fell on the
elder sons to take care of the younger children; and
Werner, with great courage and devotion, although then
only twenty-three years old, constituted himself the chief
guardian of the family.
To William his care became more tender than ever, and
he now proposed to improve his scientific knowledge by
sending him to the University of Göttingen.* He was
encouraged to do this by the fact that his eldest sister had
married Herr Himly, Professor of Chemistry there. The
idea, indeed, had originated with her, for in a sad letter,
written by her to Werner in September, 1839, immediately
after their mother's death, she said :-
Give my hearty greeting to William; if he remain so good and
industrious, God will surely help him forward. I think, in his
present circumstances, it would be advantageous for him at some
* This is Werner's account, furnished to the author. William him-
self, in 1882, described his going to Göttingen as "an act of rebellion
against his guardians." See page 347.
CHAP. III.]
27
SCHOOL AT MAGDEBURG.
future time to attend lectures in Himly's subjects, and I often
take a quiet pleasure in anticipating that he could then stay a
winter or longer with me.
This invitation was not forgotten, and after due consul-
tation with the influential friends of the family, it was now
taken advantage of. It happened that in addition to his
sister another near relation also lived there, who had
married the Colonel Commandant of Göttingen, Lieutenant
von Poten, and it was anticipated that the high social
intercourse he would obtain through the families of these
relatives might fit and prepare him for cultivated society
in after life.
He accordingly left the Magdeburg School at Easter,
1841. His certificate of dismissal, dated the 25th March
in that year, is still preserved, and it gives him an excellent
character. He had long before got himself removed
(according to his father's exhortations) into the highest
class, and he had, in addition to the ordinary course of
education, become fairly proficient in algebra, geometry,
trigonometry, and physical and technical subjects. He had
also acquired some knowledge of the French language,
and his German style was pronounced fluent, and not with-
out richness of idea, although not always strictly correct.
He had been studious and persevering, and his behaviour
had earned the praise of all his teachers.
At the same time, the facilities at this Magdeburg School
for acquiring a knowledge of physical science were very
scanty compared with those generally provided in labora-
tories now; and Sir William Siemens has himself stated
that, on carrying his thoughts back, it would almost seem
impossible that anything efficient could have been taught
there. For example, the appliances then at his command
for acquiring the rudiments of electricity were of a very
28
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
primitive kind: they consisted of a battery, composed of
flannel and some pieces of copper piled up to a certain
height, so as to produce a spark; and also an electrical
friction machine, such as may now be seen in an advanced
nursery. For mechanics there was a long scale with a
pulley to show the acceleration of a body by gravitation.
These formed the only scientific apparatus then existing at
the Magdeburg Gewerbe-Schule.*
After a visit to Menzendorf he went to Göttingen, enter-
ing on his studies there on the 10th May, 1841. He
attended lectures by Professor Hausmann, on physical
geography and technology; by Professor Stern, on the
higher mathematics; by Professor Wöhler, on theoretical
chemistry; and by Professor Himly, on practical chemistry
and physics. He also obtained admission to assist, for a
short time, in the observations in the magnetic observatory
of Wilhelm Weber.
The following letter from Werner will illustrate the
nature of William's studies, and give an idea of the pro-
gress made :-
MAGDEBURG, 26th June, 1841.
Your letter has given me much pleasure. I almost envy you
this fine opportunity of acquiring knowledge, but I am convince:
you will use it to the best possible advantage. Your leisure
hours will be employed in the pleasantest way by association with
our dear sister, with Himly, and our other relations; and what
can you, for the moment, desire further?
In regard to the occupation of your time, I am only dissatisfied
with the absence of drawing. You must certainly have instruction
in this, for it is the most essential foundation of your proposed
occupation, which you must on no account delay, for you are very
backward in it. If you cannot get a good teacher, study from
good text-books on the subject, and practise for yourself, espe-
cially geometrical projection.
* "Creators of the Age of Steel,” p. 136.
CHAP. III.]
29
AT GÖTTINGEN.
It would also be very profitable for you, if possible, to do some
practical work, as it would much facilitate the conditions necessary
for finding you a situation. If nothing happens to the contrary,
you can stay for a year, and we can seek, at Easter, a favourable
position for you in a machine factory.
Your principal studies must now be mathematics, particularly
in the applied branches, physics, and drawing; it would be good
for you to hear some lectures on machinery, but I doubt if you
can find them in Göttingen.
Madgeburg is a wretched hole (ein fatales Nest). Nothing is to
be got here; everything is dear and bad. My experiments, there-
fore, progress very slowly, as the most important materials are
wanting. The cursed money is the log continually tied round
one's neck.
In August of the same year his sister wrote to Werner:—
William is very industrious and well-behaved; Himly and I
both wish him to remain here for the winter.
Towards the end of the year William wrote to his uncle
Deichmann, who had charge of the money arrangements,
asking leave to prolong his stay, and offering to make some
personal sacrifices with a view to economy. The following
are extracts from Mr. Deichmann's answer, dated 18
January, 1842 :—
I am very glad to learn from your letter that you take pleasure
in the matter you are engaged in. Be of good courage, and
work earnestly.
I give you my permission, my dear William, to remain till
Easter in Göttingen; make the best use of the time, and follow
exactly the counsels of your good brother-in-law, then will all be
well. We must have a consultation about the expense which this
longer stay will involve, but, even if I have to pay it out of my
own pocket, I should wish that you fully complete your education
there.
As to what you say about self-denial and so on, I beg you will
never again let me hear such high-flown nonsense, showing that
30
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
If you
you have misunderstood the circumstances of the case.
like to practise self-denial after you are of full age, I have
nothing to say against it; but, till then, I am personally respon-
sible for your welfare, and I beg of you to do nothing without my
previous knowledge, or I may get into unpleasantness. Be cheer-
ful and gay; constant work dulls the mind. Fresh air, exercise,
and moderate enjoyment are necessary to render study effective,
as I know by my own experience.
Dein treuer Onkel,
G. E. DEICHMANN.
In the meantime, however, his brother was anxious to
get him into more active employment, for the University
life was expensive, and it was desirable to look forward
towards his speedily earning his own living. The results
of Werner's efforts in this direction are told graphically in
the following letter:-
DEAR WILLIAM,
WITTENBERG, 21st January, 1842.
I have received your welcome letter, and hasten, in
reply, to send you a Christmas present, namely, a place in an
engineering machine factory in Magdeburg. In Berlin the people
asked many hundred thalers as premium, even up to 500, so that
would not do, and this Christmas I went over to Magdeburg.
The factory there, formerly belonging to Mr. Aston, has been
re-organized by Count Stollberg; and it happened that the
manager, Herr Schöttler, was looking about for some pupils, also
requiring a considerable premium. A friend of ours had been
speaking to him about you, and when I went to him he offered to
take you, being a countryman of his (he also is a Hanoverian),
without premium, and for an indefinite period. I did not at once
consent, as I wished to make inquiries about him and the factory.
All agree that, although not very learned, he is a good practical
mechanic, that the factory has turned out many new steam-engines.
(about twenty in the last year), and that it is the intention of
Count Stollberg to increase it considerably.
I believe, therefore, that in two years you may, in this place,
educate yourself thoroughly. I asked uncle Siemens to settle the
CHAP. III.]
31
AT GÖTTINGEN.
1
matter with Schöttler, and I send you his letter, from which you
will see that there are some very favourable conditions attending
the matter. Schöttler's son has been for two years in the factory,
and has become practically proficient; but he is wanting in
scientific education. He is getting instruction in Magdeburg;
but that does not help him much, and he wishes you to aid him
in this particular. He is a very agreeable and simple-minded
young fellow, and I believe this will be a very advantageous
arrangement for you, as a repetition of what you have already
learnt will do you no harm; on the contrary, it will bring out
any true knowledge you have acquired. If you are prudent, this
arrangement will give you a power over the old man. So be
merry, my dear youngster, as Madame Fortune has evidently
prepared you a nice warm nest there!
You will enter on your position at Easter, when perhaps I can
meet you. Therefore take care to make good use of the remain-
ing time in completing your theoretical education, for so good an
opportunity will probably never occur to you again. Be especially
industrious in studying mechanics, and the application of the
higher mathematics thereto. I take it for granted that you are
already well grounded in the principles of physics, especially in
the mechanical part of them.
I believe Schöttler will, in time, give you completely free
lodging and maintenance; but in the meantime your expenses
need not be large, as you may accept the offered free board
without scruple.
In March, 1842, Frau Himly wrote again :
William leads here a true student's life; I see little of him
except at meal times. I am, however, convinced that he is
industrious, and so I willingly let him enjoy this happy time,
which will be so soon over.
On the 24th of the same month he received his final Testi-
monial certifying to his studies, and adding that he had
been "extraordinarily industrious," and that his conduct
had been unimpeachable. He now, therefore, at the age of
nineteen, bade adieu to his scholastic life, and in accordance
32
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
with the arrangement made some months previously, he
went to Magdeburg to begin his practical training as an
engineer.
A few months after this the idea was mooted of his
paying a visit to England. Professor Himly appears to
have had some communication with a correspondent
there, which is referred to in the following passage in a
letter from Madame Himly to William, dated 8th July,
1842-
I have been much pleased with your last letter; I see you are
a sensible young fellow, or at least you try to appear so, inasmuch
as you write so calmly about the London affair. I wish I could
say something more definite to you about it. My husband has
at present no answer. If nothing comes of this journey, take it
as an indication that such fortunate accidents happen and may
often come in your way, and therefore do not swerve in your
trust in Providence and in yourself.
Nothing further came of this at the time, but the idea, a
significant one for his future career, evidently remained in
the minds of himself and his friends.
The relations between William and his brother Werner
had now become closer and more confidential. Ever since
Werner, on the death of the parents, had taken William
under his special protection, the latter had constantly
relied on his wiser and more experienced brother for
advice and help; while Werner, now that William was
advancing towards an independent position, began to look
on him rather as a valuable future colleague than as a
junior and a learner.
Hence arose a strong mutual desire for frequent com-
munication, and when William went to Magdeburg with a
possibility of remaining there some time, the two brothers
CHAP. III.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH WERNER,
33
ར
made a compact for a systematic correspondence to be
regularly kept up between them, not only on personal
and domestic matters, but also discussing scientific and
technical subjects, and communicating any ideas that
might occur to them, or any experiences that might fall
in their way.
This arrangement was maintained with more or less regu-
larity throughout all the vicissitudes of the lives of the
brothers. Every scientific study, every new invention or
idea, every important business transaction, every private
joy or sorrow, was faithfully and freely communicated or
commented on, and the correspondence only ceased when
the King of Terrors struck, with such fearful suddenness,
the pen from William's hand.
A few of William's earlier letters, written from Magde-
'burg to Werner, who had then gone to reside permanently
in Berlin, are still preserved. In one of them, dated 15th
August, 1842, he sent a long description of a new kind of
valve-gearing, for single-acting (Cornish) steam-engines,
which he had invented; it was accompanied by an
elaborate drawing, probably one of his first efforts at
engineering design, and he said to his brother, with great
good-humour-
You will look with wonder on the drawing which accompanies
this letter, and will have a hearty laugh at me when I tell you that
it is a new valve-gearing, invented by me, which I have a strong
inclination to take out a patent for.
The drawing is lost, but by the description the invention
appears to consist chiefly in the substitution of slide-valves
for those ordinarily used in such engines. He, however,
afterwards discovered some objections to his scheme, and
it went no further.
D
34
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
The next letter, dated 29th August, was chiefly devoted
to the discussion of an invention which Werner had laid
before him, called "The Pendulum." This was none other
than the "Chronometric Governor," which we shall hear
so much about hereafter. William began by saying-
Your Pendulum seems to me of great importance for large
steam-engines, both of high and low pressure, such as are found
in manufactories and workshops, since these have a uniform
motion, and require to be accurately regulated. But it would be
difficult to apply to small engines, or to those which are single-
acting.
He then went into a detailed examination of the arrange-
ments, stating several objections and proposing several
improvements. He offered to make some small trials
himself, and spoke of consulting some persons apparently
engaged in the same factory. He said-
I would not do much, for that would cost a deal of money,
and might lead to nothing. I would not attempt to convert un-
believers, if only one believer can be found who will provide the
means. I would not show it to S- who has a curious obtuse-
ness, and I have said little to M- for I found the whole set
of them yesterday in a fierce wine-orgie, the very floor of the
room testifying to their state.
"
My opinion is that we must at first seek only a small profit, if
such is possible, in order to cultivate the Pendulum with more
energy.
A third letter, dated 12th September, spoke of a probable
trip to the Harz mountains—
Where we can be in the highest degree confidential with each
other; for I have so much on my mind, which I cannot say in
letters, even if I had patience enough to write it; and so would it
be with you.
The letter contained further remarks on the steam-
CHAP. III.]
35
ELECTRO-GILDING.
engine and the governor, but it is chiefly important on
account of its reference to a new subject which was to be
of great interest in his life.
A year or two earlier Werner Siemens (as has been
already mentioned in Chap. II.) had devoted some attention
to the application of electricity to the processes of gilding
and silvering, in which he had been aided materially by
his brother-in-law, Herr Himly. He had taken out a
Prussian patent for the process, and had established in
Berlin a workshop for putting his inventions into practice.
Werner had been in communication on this subject with
William, and had urged him also to devote some attention
to it, as likely to be profitable.
William took the hint, and in this letter he said :—
I have now been going on with the gilding work. Everything
has succeeded with such startling rapidity that my expectations
have been exceeded tenfold. The salts, which had become dry,
dissolved immediately, and the first spoon dipped therein became
perfectly and beautifully gilt in a minute, and half-a-dozen more
followed. The little battery is so powerful that each single ele-
ment gives lively sparks, and the magnetic-needle, with six coils,
shows 75° deviation. The lamp also answers well. It seems to me
you should exert yourself to sell the patent-right in other districts,
so as to obtain profit elsewhere as well as here.
He also spoke of a little artistic work he had been doing
privately, namely, painting, for the wife of the manager, a
landscape of Nordhausen, which he described as very
cunning (höchst knifferlich).
It is needless to reproduce here the elaborate mechanical
details given in these several letters; but they are significant
as showing the talent and capacity of the writer. They
evince an acuteness of perception in mechanical matters;
a power of close and correct reasoning; a sound judgment,
a fertility of invention, and an ease and accuracy of expres-
D 2
36
[CHAP. III,
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
sion, which, in a youth of nineteen, who had only had a few
months' experience in a workshop, are extraordinary, and
undoubtedly shadow forth the brilliant future he attained
in the engineering world.
At the end of the year 1842, William paid a visit to his
sister at Göttingen; and while he was there, Werner, who
had been meanwhile transferred to a command at Berlin,
wrote him a letter, dated 13th December, from which the
following passages are extracted :-
Your letter has given me great pleasure. It is good that you
have made such great progress in working at the lathe. I should
like to know whether you do turning in iron or only in wood?—
the former is the more important for you. You may send me
some pretty little specimen of your work, partly for my own satis-
faction, and also that I may exhibit it to others. But do not
neglect your drawing. Also keep up your studies of physics,
mathematics, and the nature of machinery; the latter is ex-
ceedingly important for you.
The original intention was that William should remain
for two years at the Stollberg factory; but his progress
had been so rapid that Werner seems to have been inclined
to abridge the time by one-half; for he goes on to say:-
I will look out for some employment for you, both in Magde-
burg and in Berlin; for at Easter you must begin to practise your
new calling. As soon as I know anything certain, I will write to
you. Perhaps you can obtain in Göttingen some recommenda-
tions to a manufactory or to some influential person. Try to do
this, as it would be very useful.
Matilda writes me that you have made great progress in your
appearance and manner. That delights me much, for you can
hardly believe, my dear brother, what a powerful recommendation
to all men exists in a free, manly, and unembarrassed address.
The dancing lessons seem to have been useful to you; perhaps
there lay eine kleine Liebschaft therein ? Or are you still fixed in
CHAP. III.]
37
MEANS OF INCOME.
Kölleda? If a furlough was not so difficult to get, and travelling
was not so cursedly dear, I might pay little Minna a visit. But
then you would be jealous!
Farewell, dear brother, and forget not
Deinen treuen Bruder,
E. W. SIEMENS.
Between this time and Easter modifications of Werner's
plans had begun to set in. His electro-plating operations
had answered well, and his active mind had contemplated
a large extension of this trade, as well as the introduction
of many other inventions, chemical and mechanical, which
he conceived might be profitable. He and William had
discussed these together in their correspondence, and the
latter had contributed to the discussion the results of his
newly-acquired experience in mechanical construction.
But Werner was hampered by his military position and
duties, which he dared not resign, as the pay was very
important to him. Indeed the necessity of making more
money was now very strong; the younger children were
growing up, and were becoming daily a more onerous
charge upon the elder ones. Werner therefore saw that
some means of income must be found beyond what would
be furnished by the Lieutenant's pay of one, and the small
salary which the other might obtain in a machine factory.
The hope seemed to lie in the energetic pushing of the
inventions of the brothers, particularly the electro-deposit-
ing processes; and it occurred to Werner that it might be
advisable to revive the idea of William undertaking a
journey for this purpose. He had consulted Herr Himly
again about this, and in October, 1842, his sister wrote:-
You seem to expect much from this gilding; but it is already
very common. Himly is of opinion that William has not much
to hope for in the large towns, where the people are advanced in
38
[CHAP. III.
YOUTH AND EDUCATION.
their knowledge. For example, the Elkington processes in
London are probably very good.
This early mention of the Elkington firm is singular,
comparing it with what afterwards occurred. It is clear
that at that time there was no idea of making a definite
application to them; probably Herr Himly, in the course
of his chemical investigations, had heard of the English
manufacture, and mentioned it only casually.
In spite, however, of his discouraging hints, Werner
determined that the effort should be made, and it was
accordingly arranged that William should get a temporary
leave of absence from the Stollberg factory, and should
undertake a journey, beginning with Hamburg, and going
on, if possible, to England.
The result of this will be told in the next chapter.
+
CHAPTER
IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
Age 20 to 28.
1843 to 1851.
Visit to England, by way of Hamburg-Arrival in London-Transac-
tions with Messrs. Elkington-Sale to them of the Electro-Gilding
Patents-Return to Germany-Second Journey to London-The
Chronometric Governor-Anastatic Printing-Lecture by Faraday
- Difficulties and Troubles-Improvement in Air Pumps-Heat
and its Applications-Residence in Manchester -The Regenera-
tive Steam Engine-Arrangement with Fox and Henderson-
Regenerative Evaporation-Electrical Work-The Factory of
Siemens & Halske in Berlin-Appointment of William as Agent
in England.
WILLIAM started on his journey early in February, 1843.
He was first to pay a visit to Menzendorf, after which he
was to go on to Hamburg, his further proceedings being
regulated by what he might do there. He took with him.
samples of his stock in trade, namely, an electric battery of
peculiar construction, and certain solutions for metallic
deposition. He hoped, by exhibiting these, to show the
value of the improved processes, and to effect sales of the
right to use them.
His first proceedings were told in letters to his brother
Werner, which still exist: they were written in excellent
spirits and with much enthusiasm, and they abound in
jocose language, much of which loses its point in trans-
40
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
lation. The following extracts will tell all that is necessary
for this history:-
HAMBURG, 21 February, 1843.
For the last two days I have been running about, in the hope
of being able to do business; but the people here are worse than
in Berlin, and I may probably have to leave the place unsuc-
cessful. Early this morning I had a sort of half-and-half offer; I
asked sixty louis-d'ors, and the man agreed to call on me and see
the thing. I unpacked my solutions and apparatus, and brought
the whole into proper order. In the afternoon he came to the
inn with his stupid blank face (mit flauem Gesichte), but he soon
went away blanker still; for the battery, which had worked ad-
mirably before his arrival, suddenly seemed bewitched, and failed
in its action.
You think I ought to visit Holland, but there it will probably
be worse than here. My opinion is, that England is the place if
anything is to be done.
He was, however, more fortunate in Hamburg than he
anticipated, as his next letter showed-
February 22nd.
At last I have found out the right person. There lives here,
quite hidden from the world, a fellow who has a tolerably large
manufactory of metallic window-frames and such like. He has
ordered from Rössler a considerable quantity of solutions, with a
battery; but these are not sufficient for him, as he requires to
treat articles of brass or cast-iron, 12 feet long, 2 feet wide, and
40 lbs. weight. I have undertaken to put him in the way of
accomplishing his object, and for this service, which will occupy
me a week, I have asked ten louis-d'ors, and my offer has been
unconditionally accepted. He was especially pleased with the
cleanliness and simple action of my battery. If I had not been
a simpleton, I might have got from him eight louis more, for he
now fears I may make the process known elsewhere.
!
A formal contract was entered into between C. W.
Siemens and the manufacturer, Herr J. D. Klopfer, on the
CHAP. IV.
41
BUSINESS IN HAMBURG.
26th of February, ratifying this agreement. It is still
preserved, and is a well-drawn explicit document, showing
a fair business-like capability on the part of the young
engineer.
The letter continued:-
My stay here costs little, for an old acquaintance from Lübeck
has invited me to stay with him. As the crossing from Hamburg to
London costs only £1, it will certainly be best to devote to that
journey the money made here; and then, even if the speculation
fails, my ardent wish to see England will have been fulfilled. If
your new solutions give good results, send me, without delay, a
large grand-looking specimen (einen grossen recht pompösaussehenden
Gegenstand), and I shall not start for England till I hear from
you. If the thing succeeds I will try to remain in that country
(wenn es irgend geht, so will ich mir in England einen Anhalt zu
verschaffen suchen).
This mention of England as a probable permanent resi-
dence is very significant.
He also gave some impressions of the great fire which
had desolated Hamburg in May, 1842, and added some
remarks on the general life in the city.
It is interesting to follow the course taken by the fire, but the
impression which the view made upon me is not so great
as I had anticipated. One sees too little of it at one time and
from one place. It is remarkable how the new Bourse with a
dozen houses in the square have remained, while massive build-
ings, and even the churches, have been burnt to the ground.. A
badly built wooden house has also been left standing in the
middle of the conflagration, as if the fire did not think it good
enough to attack; otherwise it would have burnt like a torch.
The life here is much more original than in Berlin. The fullest
provision is made for intellectual enjoyments. I am especially
pleased with the free manner of thinking, and the independence
of the Hamburg citizens. In all the beer-houses political matters
are freely spoken of; the high and learned councillor is put down,
42
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
if need be, by the plain citizen, even if ten of his fellow coun-
cillors are present. So is it also that in all public meetings and
concerts where ladies go, the Hamburger keeps his hat on, while
the unmarried ladies remove their head-covering.
In the same letter he gave to his brother an account of
what he had found at Menzendorf, where the family were
still remaining after the parents' death. He says:-
Hans lay, when I left, ill with a severe rheumatic fever; the
poor fellow could not move a limb, and his brother Ferdinand
was obliged to lift him, like a mass of boneless flesh, in and out of
bed, which required a herculean power to do without hurting him.
Ferdinand had also otherwise distinguished himself, and is a good
practical farmer. Friedrich and Carl are, in heart and soul,
sailors;
the young ones are somewhat backward in their learning,
chiefly from the fact that at home they have no place to study in,
but are driven with their books from one corner to another.
I
have little to say about Sophie [then seven or eight years old] as
she has enclosed a letter to you; she is very pretty and clever,
and can play at chess already. It is unfortunate, however, that
there is no rod in the house, which might do her considerable
good! Walter and Otto are smart youngsters, and will, it is to
be hoped, go to school at Easter; grandmother [the mother's
mother] is as vigorous as ever, and the household arrangements
suit her very well.
Menzendorf is, I am thankful to say, to be given up in the
spring; there are many speculators ready to give for it the price
asked, namely 10,000 dollars.
Werner answered the letter from Berlin, the 27th
February, saying that, in consequence of illness and other
disappointments, the electro-depositing work had not gone
on so well, and adding further instructions :-
If you go to England you must ignore colour, &c., and confine
yourself to the simple plating-holding out the advantages of
quicker and cheaper work . . . Give up beauty of gilding, and
rely on durability, which is especially suited for that country.
CHAP. IV.]
43
BUSINESS IN HAMBURG.
Before all things you must have money; I have been long con-
sidering how this is to be managed, and I will write to Uncle
Ferdinand in Lübeck, to lend you 100 thalers. See if you can-
not get something extra in Hamburg by offering some of the pro-
cesses, you may thus obtain 10 or 15 louis-d'ors more.
I wish you new success and open eyes in England. You must
write to Schöttler, and say you have not finished your business, but
will return soon.
On the 9th of March William sent another letter, explain-
ing that the reason of his long stay in Hamburg was the
necessity of sending to Berlin for some materials, and add-
ing that the apparatus he had sold to the window-frame
maker had been perfectly successful. The battery was
very powerful, and the deposition of copper in vessels 14
feet long went on admirably. He added:-
I am now so far advanced as to be able to leave by steamer to-
morrow morning. You had better not send to Uncle Ferdinand,
for it may perhaps be inconvenient to him to spare 100 thalers out
of his business, and it is not now necessary, as my window-frame
maker will give me 12 louis-d'ors for the solutions. He has not
purchased the gilding and silvering processes, as the affair has
already cost him 500 thalers, but I have sold him certain articles
which I do not want, and could not take over to England, for five
louis-d'ors. I have therefore taken a passage ticket to London,
and to-morrow morning at eight o'clock I shall be on the way. I
have received nothing from Lübeck, and I hope I shall not
want it, although I dare not spend in all more than six louis-
d'ors in England, in order to be able to return with honour
back home. Uncle Ferdinand has given me good letters of
introduction, and if you can send me any others, pray do so
immediately.
Now, dear brother, I must close, for I have yet much to do. I
will write from London, but do not let me wait long before hearing
from you.
Dein treuer Bruder,
W. SIEMENS.
44
LCHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
He must have arrived in the Thames about the 12th of
March, 1843, and he took up his quarters in a little inn
called the "Ship and Star," at Sparrow Corner near the
Minories.
He often in after life referred with pleasure to this his
first introduction to England, and he gave publicly the
following account of it in an Address delivered, as President
of the Midland Institute, in the Town Hall, Birmingham,
on the 28th of October,* 1881. He said :—
That form of energy known as the electric current was nothing
more than the philosopher's delight forty years ago; its first appli-
cation may be traced to this good town of Birmingham, where
Mr. George Richards Elkington, utilizing the discoveries of Davy,
Faraday, and Jacobi, had established a practical process of electro-
plating in 1842. It affords me great satisfaction to be able to
state that I had something to do with that first practical applica-
tion of electricity; for in March of the following year, 1843, I
presented myself before Mr. Elkington with an improvement on
his processes which he adopted, and in so doing gave me my first
start in practical life. Considering the moral lesson involved, it
may interest you, perhaps, if I divert for a few minutes from my
subject in order to relate a personal incident connected with this
my first appearance amongst you.
When the electrotype process first became known it excited a
very general interest ; and although I was only a young student of
Göttingen, under twenty years of age, who had just entered upon
his practical career with a mechanical engineer, I joined my brother
Werner Siemens, then a young lieutenant of artillery in the Prus-
sian service, in his endeavour to accomplish electro-gilding, the
first impulse in this direction having been given by Professor C.
Himly, then of Göttingen.
After attaining some promising results, a spirit of enterprise
came over me so strong that I tore myself away from the narrow
circumstances surrounding me, and landed at the East End of
London with only a few pounds in my pocket and without friends,
but an ardent confidence of ultimate success within my breast.
* See page 343.
CHAP. IV.] FIRST PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND.
45
I expected to find some office in which inventions were ex-
amined into, and rewarded if found meritorious, but no one could
direct me to such a place. In walking along Finsbury Pavement
I saw written up in large letters, "So-and-So" (I forget the name),
"Undertaker,” and the thought struck me that this must be the
place I was in quest of; at any rate I thought that a person ad-
vertising himself as an "Undertaker" would not refuse to look
into my invention, with the view of obtaining for me the sought-
for recognition or reward. On entering the place I soon con-
vinced myself, however, that I came decidedly too soon for the
kind of enterprise there contemplated, and finding myself con-
fronted by the proprietor of the establishment, I covered my
retreat by what he must have thought a very lame excuse.
By dint of perseverance I found my way to the Patent Office of
Messrs. Poole & Carpmael, who received me kindly, and provided
me with a letter of introduction to Mr. Elkington. Armed with
this letter, I proceeded to Birmingham to plead my cause with
your countrymen.
In looking back to that time, I wonder at the patience with
which Mr. Elkington listened to what I had to say, being very
young, and scarcely able to find English words to convey my
meaning. After showing me what he was doing already in the
way of electro-plating, Mr. Elkington sent me back to London in
order to read some patents of his own, asking me to return if
after perusal I still thought I could teach him anything. To my
great disappointment I found that the chemical solutions I had
been using were actually mentioned in one of his patents, although
in a manner that would hardly have sufficed to enable a third
person to obtain practical results.
On my return to Birmingham I frankly stated what I had
found, and with this frankness I evidently gained the favour of
another townsman of yours, Mr. Josiah Mason, who had just
joined Mr. Elkington in business, and whose name as Sir Josiah
Mason will ever be remembered for his munificent endowment for
education. It was agreed that I should not be judged by the
novelty of my invention, but by the results which I promised,
namely, of being able to deposit with a smooth surface 30 penny-
weights of silver upon a dish cover, the crystalline structure of the
deposit having theretofore been a source of difficulty.
46
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
In this I succeeded; and I was able to return to my native
country and my mechanical engineering a comparative Croesus.
By dint of a certain determination to win, I was able to
advance step by step up to this place of honour, situate within a
gunshot of the scene of my very earliest success in life, but sepa-
rated from it by the time of a generation. But notwithstanding
the lapse of time, my heart still beats quick each time I come
back to the scene of this, the determining incident of my life.
Through the kind offices of Messrs. Elkington, and with
the aid of some other documents, further particulars of this
transaction may be added.
Mr. Siemens had received from his uncle in Lübeck an
introduction to a firm of merchants in Birmingham, and,
hesitating to go directly to Messrs. Elkington, he applied
to them in the first instance through this firm. The
following letter states what happened.
BIRMINGHAM, 21 March, 1843.
We had to-day a long interview with Mr. Elkington about your
new invention for gilding, &c. He has not been able to decide
anything, for the following reasons:-
1. He says that if you gild by a galvanic battery, you will run
the risk of infringing his patent.
2. He cannot see that your method has any advantages over
his own, except that you can gild without damaging the polish or
the objects.
3. He says that you ask much too high a price, as it is only for
an improvement and not for any invention.
He cannot, however, decide whether he will or will not purchase.
If it is only an improvement, he is ready to treat, but he must
know more about it, and wishes to see some specimens of what
you have done. In short, we advise you to come here and bring
your apparatus; otherwise you can do nothing with him.
Hoping to see you as soon as possible, we are, with friendly
greetings,
BEACH AND MINTE,
To Mr. W. SIEMENS,
Ship and Star," Minories, London.
CHAP. IV.]
47
APPLICATION TO ELKINGTONS.
He
Mr. Siemens took this advice, and went to Birmingham
to see Mr. Elkington, as mentioned in his statement.
afterwards examined the patents and discussed the subject
fully by letter with his brother in Berlin, the result being
that he revised his modes of operation, and so far satisfied
Messrs. Elkington that they authorized him to take out a
new patent at their expense.
This patent was issued on the 25th of May, 1843 (No.
9741) in the name of Moses Poole, being " a communication
from abroad." The title was for "Improvements in the
deposition of certain metals, and in apparatus connected
therewith," and the specification was duly enrolled on the
25th of November in the same year.
The invention consisted in the employment of certain
new solutions of gold, silver, and copper for the purposes of
electrical deposition, and in the application of what the
patentee called a "thermo-electrical battery" for deposit-
ing the same. This battery consisted of alternate vertical
bars of German silver and iron connected together in the
usual way, and inserted in a frame; the lower ends of the
bars dipped into a sand bath heated nearly to redness,
while the upper ends were kept cold by a current of cold
water. This kind of battery was specially claimed, in-
dependently of the solutions, " for the purpose of generating
electrical currents applicable to the deposition of metals."
Messrs. Elkington appreciated the ingenious efforts of
the inventor, and paid him for his invention the sum of
£1600, less £110, the cost of the patent. He spent a con-
siderable time at their works, experimenting on his process,
and one of their present assistants remembers well the
interest attaching at the time to the operations of the
"young German,"
German," as he was called. His process is said to
have been quite successful but owing to various changes
which took place in the modes of manufacture, it was not
:
48
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
commercially used to any large extent; being superseded
by others more economical. Messrs. Elkington were, how-
ever, well satisfied with their bargain; they were pleased
with the young man and his ways, and remained always
his powerful friends and supporters.
The success of this enterprise transcended the most
sanguine expectations of the family, and when young
Siemens returned to Germany, he was considered quite a
hero. Frau Himly wrote to Werner on July 7th, 1843, as
follows:-
A few days ago we had the first news from our dear Goldfish,
since he has seen you. Your satisfaction at his appearance as
Cræsus will naturally be as great as my own; it has been one of
the greatest joys I have known. Ah! Werner! why have our
dear parents not lived to see it! Shall you divide the money in´a
fraternal way? I am convinced that William will make further
fortunate speculations, and therefore you may, take your share
without hesitation.
In a letter to William himself, she said :—
We all send greetings and good wishes to our Golden Brother.
We have not yet heard you are engaged to be married; rich men
like you are much exposed to that sort of thing: the girls will
look on you with quite different eyes now! My husband asks
whether any ebb-tide has yet begun in your treasure bag!
We may make good allowance for family pride, as well
as for the exceptionally favourable reception he received
from Elkingtons, and still we cannot but admire the
qualities shown by William on this his first essay in the
real business of life. A young man of only twenty years
of age, with scarcely any experience in commercial matters,
almost without money or friends, and with only a limited
technical knowledge of the matters he had to deal with,
CHAP. IV.] LEAVES MAGDEBURG FINALLY.
49
had undertaken to negotiate, in a foreign land, even the
language of which was strange to him, the sale of a new
invention; and by dint of perseverance, intelligence, and
skill, he contrived to effect the object of his mission with a
success far beyond the expectations of those who had sent
hitn. Such a beginning, although, as will be seen, it was
followed by temporary reverses, indicated strongly the
possession of those mental faculties and powers which
ultimately determined his high position and character.
The success was for the time eminently useful. The two
brothers were becoming hard pressed by the charge they
had taken of the younger children of the family, and the
proceeds of William's business transaction came oppor-
tunely to their relief in this pious duty.
William returned to his situation in the Stollberg factory
at Magdeburg, where he remained for the rest of the year.
But the comparative ease with which the Elkington money
had been obtained stimulated the brothers to bring out
new inventions, and the correspondence between them in
regard thereto was continued with much zeal.
By a letter from Werner in Berlin to William at Magde-
burg, dated the 28th of November, 1843, it appears that a
third person, a clever mechanic named Leonhard, had
been taken into their confidence. The "Chronometric
Governor," mentioned in the last chapter, had been the
chief object of study, and it was arranged that William
should make a second journey to England and endeavour
to sell it, the proceeds to be divided equally among the
three. Some months passed in further discussion of the
matter; the invention was patented in Germany; trials
were made of it on a small scale, and the results of these
being considered satisfactory, William finally left Magde-
burg at the beginning of 1844.
E
50
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
The following certificate was given him on leaving :-
William Siemens of Menzendorf has been, and has worked as a
pupil in this machine factory for about two years. During this time
he has been industrious, trustworthy, and well-behaved.
In addition to some manual work, he has especially been
occupied in machine-drawing, and has acquired considerable
facility therein.
19th January, 1844.
SCHÖTTLER,
Count Stollberg's Machine Factory,
Magdeburg.
He at once proceeded to London, where he arrived on
the 8th of February. This visit determined his future
career, for his efforts to introduce the new invention
brought him in contact with the leading engineers and
scientific men, and he received so much encouragement
from them, that he was led to believe that a more congenial
and more profitable field for his labour would be found in
England than in his native country, and from that time
England became his home.
The invention of the Governor was the chief subject of
his journey, but it was not the only one. The brothers had,
among their multifarious schemes, taken an interest in a
peculiar process of printing invented shortly before in
Germany, and had together made some important improve-
ments therein. It was therefore arranged that William
should endeavour also to prosecute this invention, in con-
junction with the Governor.
The two occupied his earnest attention for some years,
and it will be convenient now to trace his proceedings in
regard to each separately.
CHAP. IV.] THE CHRONOMETRIC GOVERNOR.
51
THE CHRONOMETRIC GOVERNOR.
Mr. Siemens appears to have lost no time, for there is
extant a brief manuscript notice of the general nature of
this machine, written in imperfect English (although quite
explicit and intelligible) the day after his arrival in London,
the 9th of February, 1844, and signed "Wilh. Siemens,
Civil-Ingeneer of Berlin."
Armed with this document he waited on the Consul-
General for Prussia, Mr. Bernard Hebeler, who not only
received him kindly but was afterwards an earnest and
useful friend to him. Mr. Hebeler pointed out the necessity
of his associating himself with some one who could aid him
in the technical part of his work, and for this purpose in-
troduced him to Mr. Joseph Woods, a civil engineer of
repute then practising in London. Mr. Siemens quickly
appreciated the advantage of such an association, and after
due discussion of his objects and plans, an arrangement
was made between him and Mr. Woods for joint action.
The first step necessary was to secure the invention by
an English Patent, and this was taken out in the name of
Mr. Woods on the 18th of April, 1844. It may be conve-
nient here to give a brief description of what the invention
was.
Steam engines for turning machinery have always been
liable to irregularities in their velocity of motion, arising
partly from variations in the steam-pressure, and partly
from variable resistances in the work done. Several con-
trivances have been used or tried to equalise the motion›
but the one most successful has been the well-known
governor❞ invented by Watt, consisting of a centrifugal
pendulum caused to revolve with the engine, and connected
with the throttle-valve admitting the steam.
When the
E 2
52
[CHAP. IV
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
movement is accelerated the pendulum rises and diminishes
the steam-pressure; when, on the other hand, the movement
is retarded the pendulum falls, and by enlarging the steam
passage tends to produce acceleration.
It was well known to engineers that this contrivance,
though fairly efficient for ordinary purposes, was not a
perfect regulator, as its action admitted necessarily of cer-
tain fluctuations in the speed; and as the brothers Siemens
conceived that greater uniformity would be desirable, they
tried to improve the mode of regulation. They conceived
the ingenious idea of establishing, alongside the engine-
shaft, another independent rotating movement, the speed
of which should be invariable, and should serve to regulate
the velocity of the engine. This second movement was
actuated by a weight, and the uniformity of its rotation
was easily secured (as it was subject to no variations of
power or load) by simple regulating contrivances. The
comparison between the uniform and the variable motion
was made, by a very ingenious device, not only to
declare itself automatically, but also to effect the regula-
tion. The main engine-shaft turned an endless screw
which geared into a pinion connected with the uniform
motor, and was also capable of sliding longitudinally in
the direction of its axis. When the two velocities corre-
sponded, the screw revolved without any sliding, but the
moment the engine velocity began to vary, the screw began
its longitudinal motion, and by a connexion with the
steam-admission this effected a regulation of the most
efficient and sensitive character. An improvement, pa-
tented by Mr. Siemens in 1845, substituted a bevel-wheel
arrangement for the screw and pinion, and further improve-
ments of a minor kind were included in a patent of 22nd
December, 1847.
It will be seen that the novel feature of the invention,
CHAP. IV.] THE CHRONOMETRIC GOVERNOR.
53
C
namely, the added uniform motor, acted as a time-keeper,
with which the motion of the engine could be compared, and
this gave to the invention the name of the "Chronometric
Governor."
Mr. Siemens, presuming on his fortunate experience
with the electro-plating inventions, at first wished to sell
the patent-right entirely, which he valued at an enormous
sum, namely about £36,000. But he soon found that such
a transaction was out of the question, and he consequently
endeavoured, in conjunction with Mr. Woods, to adopt
some other means of making the invention productive. It
was proposed to grant licenses; but even this did not
answer, and it became necessary, in order to induce manu-
facturers to try the machines, that Messrs. Siemens and
Woods should actually supply them, getting them made
under their own direction.
In order to bring the matter more prominently under the
notice of the engineering world, Mr. Woods, on the 10th of
March, 1846, presented a Paper on the subject to the Insti-
tution of Civil Engineers, giving a full description of the
machine, and explaining its advantages. The invention
was very favourably received, and in the discussion that
followed the Paper, several eminent engineers, including
Mr. Robert Stephenson, Mr. Charles May, and Mr. Joshua
Field, gave testimony in its favour. Some months later
Mr. John Penn (one of the best authorities in such a matter)
expressed himself as follows in a letter to Mr. Hebeler,
September 1, 1846 :—
I have and always have had a very favourable opinion of
Siemens's governor, and think it reflects much credit on the in-
I hope to see it extensively applied, and have no doubt
it will be, when more generally known.
ventor.
With these advantages the invention had a good start,
and the governors were applied to many steam engines
54
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
in various parts of the country, occasionally in the works
of eminent engineering manufacturers. Some of them
appear to have effected their object, and to have been
reported on favourably; but, as in the case of many
mechanical novelties, a good deal of trouble and difficulty
was occasionally met with in their application, and cases of
failure were not uncommon. The manufacture was per-
severed in for many years, and it will be found alluded to
in future periods of this biography.
A working model of the governor was exhibited at the
Society of Arts in 1849, and again at the Great Inter-
national Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851; it was spoken
of in the Jury Report of the latter as "well known and
approved," and was awarded a "Prize Medal."
ANASTATIC PRINTING.
The other invention which William Siemens brought to
England in 1844 created considerable sensation at the
time, and its early history is curious.
In October, 1841, the proprietors of the Athenæum
journal received, from a correspondent at Berlin, a reprint
of four pages of their number of 25 September, containing
some woodcut illustrations. The copy, both of the letter-
press and of the engravings, was so perfect a facsimile, that
if it had reached them under other circumstances they
would never have suspected that it had not issued from
their own office. They urgently applied for explanation,
but all they could learn was that this, and similar reprints
of other illustrated works, had been made by a new process
lately discovered, which was kept a profound secret.
The Athenæum published a notice of this on December 4,
1841, headed "Printing and Piracy," and pointed out the
vast evil which the discovery might inflict on the publishing
CHAP. IV.]
55
ANASTATIC PRINTING.
trade, particularly in regard to costly illustrated works, the
reproduction of which had been hitherto supposed too
difficult to be attempted by unauthorized hands. They
sent the copy they had received to the Government, and it
was submitted by Lord Monteagle to the Commissioners
appointed to inquire into the Exchequer Bill forgeries; but
no further notice appears to have been taken of it.
In the meantime the process was being further tested in
Germany. The inventor of it was a Mr. Baldamus, who
originally lived at Erfurt, but who afterwards removed to
Berlin. During his efforts to perfect the invention, he
became acquainted with the brothers Werner and William
Siemens, to whom he explained his process; and they,
seeing its merit and probable advantages, agreed to join
him in it. William especially contributed his mechanical
skill to its improvement by designing presses adapted to
it, one of these being, moreover, the first roller quick
printing press that had been used in the trade.
When William made his arrangement with Mr. Joseph
Woods, this process was included in the bargain, and Mr.
Woods took out an English patent for it on June 6, 1844.
It was entitled "Improvements in producing and multi-
plying copies of designs and impressions of printed or
written surfaces;" and the patent embraced two objects.
First, a mode of obtaining, on metallic surfaces, reversed
facsimiles of typography, engravings, designs, writings, &c.
and secondly, mechanical presses for printing impressions
from such reversed facsimiles.
;
The process generally was called "Anastatic Printing,"
being the avάoτaois, or fresh raising up, of copies.*
* This very appropriate name was suggested by Mr. Joseph Woods's
brother, Mr. Edward Woods, lately President of the Institution of
Civil Engineers.
56
[CHAP. IV
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
The readiness with which part of the ink of any newly
printed book, or engraving, can be transferred by pressure
to a smooth surface beneath, is well known, and this was
taken advantage of to obtain a reversed facsimile on a
plate of zinc. When the ink was old, the transfer was
facilitated by certain chemical means. The plate was
then treated alternately by water and by oily ink, as in
lithography, and from this, by proper presses, the required
copies were obtained. The presses were of two kinds;
either small presses worked by hand, or larger self-acting
machines moved by steam power.
Specimens of the printing were laid before the Society of
Arts on the 27th November, 1844, and the process was
noticed again in the Athenæum of 18th and 25th January,
1845, exciting much admiration, mixed as before with
some alarm at its possible results.
A month or two later it was exhibited to the President
and many influential members of the Royal Society, and
it attracted the attention of Professor Faraday, who
thought it of sufficient importance to devote to it a Friday-
evening lecture at the Royal Institution.
This was
delivered on the 25th April; * the lecturer explained the
process in his usual clear manner, and during the description
a complete anastatic copy of a page of a printed work,
with woodcuts, was made by Mr. Woods, who attended
for the purpose with his press and workmen. Mr. Siemens
stated, in later life, that this favourable notice had obtained
for him an entry into scientific circles, and helped to
sustain him in the difficulties which soon after he had to
encounter.
* An abstract of the lecture will be found in the Athenæum of 3 May,
1845, page 437.
CHAP. IV.]
57
ANASTATIC PRINTING.
C
Mr. Siernens was at first as sanguine about this invention
as about the governor, and he valued the patent right at
the high figure of £50,000. But here again no purchaser
could be found, and it was resolved that Mr. Siemens and
Mr. Woods should together introduce the invention to the
public, and try to render it profitable by actual working.
Much depended on the presses, and it was necessary in
the first place to experiment on and perfect them, par-
ticularly the self-acting steam press, which was expected to
be the most important element of success. They were put
into the hands of two eminent mechanical engineering
firms, Messrs. Easton and Amos, of Southwark, and Messrs.
Ransomes and May, of Ipswich, and much care was
bestowed upon them. When they had been sufficiently
tested, it was considered advisable to found what was
called a "Grand Printing Establishment," where the
anastatic process could be commercially worked for the
public demand. Workmen had to be specially trained,
and a connection opened among various branches of trade
connected with literature and art, all which took a long
time, involved the outlay of large sums of money, and was
attended with much trouble and anxiety.
These proceedings lasted for some years. It is difficult
now to trace exactly the various phases of the concern;
sometimes we find mention of favourable results, but the
chief records are those of difficulty and disappointment,
which at length drove Mr. Siemens to abandon the thing
altogether.
He had been assisted throughout the work by a Mr.
Appel, a German who had been originally a workman of
Mr. Baldamus, and on the 30th December, 1846, Mr.
Siemens wrote to him as follows:-
DEAR APPEL,—I am sorry to be obliged to inform you that our
outlay for the object of bringing the printing to practical perfection
58
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
has so largely increased, and that there is at present so little pro-
spect of its becoming profitable, that we find ourselves compelled
next year to give it up altogether.
The orders taken must however be carried out, and I will ask
you to get a perfect set of samples of all kinds for use hereafter.
I have arranged with Mr. Woods that the premises shall be closed
on the 15th of January.
Mr. Siemens then suggested in some detail what it
might be advisable for Mr. Appel to do, and offered to
help him in every possible way. The result of this was
that Mr. Appel carried on the process on his own account
for some years with varying success, showing it at the
International Exhibition of 1851. It was, however, ulti-
mately superseded by other processes, and it does not seem
to have ever realised, commercially, the anticipations of its
inventors and promoters.
[DIFFICULTIES AND TRoubles.
The first three years of William's residence in England
were chiefly occupied in trying to introduce the two inven-
tions above described; and they were memorable years to
him and his family on account of the disappointments and
troubles which the attempt involved him in.
His first brilliant success had made him unduly sanguine,
as is shown by the preposterous money value he attached
to the new inventions. And even though he failed to find
purchasers, he seems to have still expected that his attempt
to work them himself would be easy, and largely remunera-
tive. But he had the inexperience as well as the confidence
of youth, and he was doomed to see his anticipations
bitterly disappointed.
In the first place, it was necessary to find money, and to
spend it with no sparing hand. He himself began the out-
CHAP. IV.]
59
DIFFICULTIES AND TROUBLES.
lay; he was entitled to a small patrimony of about £700;
this was realized, and, together with all his ready money,
was appropriated very soon. Then his brother Werner,
and his sister Frau Himly, who both shared in his expecta-
tions, shared also in the expenditure. Then Mr. Woods
advanced a considerable sum, and when all this had been
swallowed up, still larger contributions were obtained,
chiefly through Mr. Hebeler. In a letter to this gentleman,
dated 12th December, 1844, we find Mr. Siemens thanking
him warmly for former help, and assuring him of the pro-
spect of success, but expressing his regret at the heavy
expenditure, and asking for further advances.
It was not only for working the two inventions in
England that money was wanted, but such was the con-
fidence of the brothers in them, that patents were taken
out in France, Belgium, Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, and
most of the German States, all which required heavy
payments, with very remote probabilities of return. And
the items of expenditure were sometimes of a curious
character, for in one letter William speaks of the governors
requiring to be "well-greased" (i.e., the men using them
wanting heavy fees) to make them work well.
Moreover the prolific ingenuity of the brothers was con-
tinually prompting them to new inventions. We find them
discussing schemes for improvements in paper-making,
ships with new modes of propulsion, winged rockets and
flying apparatus, locomotives on new principles, railway
appliances, and in fact a long miscellaneous category of
contrivances, all to be patented and experimented on,
if money could be got for the purpose. In some of
these cases William's ingenuity ran ahead, and the
elder brother had to restrain him. In one case Werner
said, “Parental love is a beautiful thing, but it makes the
sharpest eyes blind to the defects of the progeny." On
60
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND. [CHAP. IV.
the other hand, we occasionally find William exhibiting a
"Furcht" about the schemes which Werner had en-
couraged.
But they did not confine their attention to their own
inventions; they interested themselves also in those of
other people. Werner said in one of his letters :-
We have already obtained fame, people are continually applying
to me, directly or indirectly, to introduce their inventions, and we
might do a good business in this line.
And of course" introducing the inventions" usually implied
finding money for them.
Among other things, William entered into negotiations
in 1845 with Mr. Frederick Ransome of Ipswich (at whose
house he was a guest while the Anastatic Press work was
going on) in regard to a process Mr. Ransome had in-
vented and patented for the manufacture of artificial
stone. William devoted much time to the examination
of the process in this country, while Werner actively
endeavoured to introduce it on the Continent. The
process is well known as a successful and valuable one,
but it does not appear that the efforts of the Messrs.
Siemens led to any result profitable to them.
But the inventions pressed upon them were seldom of
such a good character. In one case we find an application.
from a Mecklenburg sculptor, who, having, as he believed,
discovered the "perpetual motion," wrote to William
urging him to claim for it a large prize, which he under-
stood had been offered in England for the discovery, the
application being accompanied by formal certificates from
the civic authorities, testifying to the perfect success of the
machine!
When it was found that all the money was disappearing
CHAP. IV.]
61
DIFFICULTIES AND TROUBLES.
without any immediate prospect of return, some of the
parties who had advanced it naturally became uneasy.
At first there had been full confidence. One of William's
friends in Berlin wrote, for example, "I shall hope to see
you here soon, when you have again got some thousands
of pounds sterling out of the goddams!" And we often
find mention of "attractive hopes," "high return for ad-
vances," and so on.
But these sanguine expectations were soon seen to be
delusive. Even early in 1844 Werner began to complain
of the unsatisfactory notices sent home by his brother, and
in writing of his sister said, "Mathilde complains bitterly
and loudly over our speculation, which she considers already
totally lost."
As time went on such complaints continued to increase;
for Werner had heavy expenses of his own to meet, and
he felt keenly the continual drain which the inventions
caused, keeping him, as he expressed it, in a continual
state of “money famine." Even the workmen employed
had to suffer, for instead of receiving payment to provide
them with necessaries, they had to be put off with promises
of a share in the ultimate gains.
But the money loss was not the worst of the matter, for
the disappointments and failures that occurred gave rise
to complaints, dissensions, and recriminations among the
parties concerned, which, had it not been for good temper
and forbearance on all sides, would have caused irreparable
mischief. William Siemens found himself in a very delicate
position. He had to earn his living, and it was not agreeable
to him to appropriate to this purpose the money advanced
by his relations and friends. He might easily have found
less anxious means of obtaining a livelihood (and indeed a
proposal was once entertained of his going back to manage
C
62
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
a manufactory in Germany), but he was restrained by the
conscientious scruple that, having induced his friends to
lend their money on the faith of his assurances, he was
in honour bound to stick by them, and do his best for their
interests.
A few extracts from some of his letters during this time
will illustrate his state of mind. On the 31st of May,
1845, he said :-
•
I could not look any longer cool while my affairs get injured
and spoiled daily more and more. At present I am almost
ashamed to say I am connected with the Anastatic Printing .
The whole proceeding stops and suffers, while I am condemned
to be a silent spectator, to see the injury which is done to my own
and confided property, and the gradual decay and ruin of my future
happiness. . . I only ask for so much more as to enable me to
pay my immediate debts, having not been able to satisfy my land-
lady for some time.
On the 18th of October he further wrote :—
There must be made some great alteration in the mode of carrying
on our business; for one thing, this being the date of the glorious
day of Leipsic, I will, in remembrance of it, gain one victory over
myself, which is, that I will not indulge any more in quarrelling
I am now determined to discontinue this tantalizing idle sort
of life, and to take a situation, however humble, whereby I can
secure the means to provide for myself . . . Finally, I offer you
my hand, to drop all feeling of animosity, which has made me sick
already.
•
In the autumn of 1845, being desirous to earn something
independently of the patent business, he undertook some
railway work. It cannot now be ascertained what or where
this was, or who put it in his way; but as that was the
time of the great railway mania, when the services of
engineers were so much in demand, he had probably not
to look far for such employment. At any rate, he was
CHAP. IV.]
63
DIFFICULTIES AND TROUBLES
fortunate enough to get paid for it, and the money thus
earned enabled him to go to Germany, and settle some
private affairs.
By the end of that year things had become so much.
worse that the two brothers came simultaneously to the
conclusion that the attempt to work the inventions must
be abandoned. William's first step, in furtherance of this
view, was to relieve his brother from all further responsi-
bility, taking the duties that remained entirely on his own
shoulders. The letter from him to Werner, conveying this
resolution, is unfortunately lost, but its general nature may
be inferred from the following passages in Werner's answer,
dated the 3rd of January, 1846.
Our joy over your letter, which we received on New Year's Eve,
and especially my own satisfaction at the agreement of our views,
prompted us at once to go to see poor Meyer, and drink a glass
of grog with him to drown the disappointed hopes of the last year.
But the gloomy feelings were alieviated by the new course of life
which is now marked out for me. I have given up all my former
sanguine expectations, and will, in accordance with your advice,
now devote all my energies to one object, namely, to the galvanic
telegraph, and what hangs thereupon. I will use every effort to
extricate myself from the desperate position in which I have been
placed, and I wish myself health and perseverance to attain my
object. I am glad that you have come to a similar resolution;
take care that you succeed in it. Make use of any of our hitherto
joint affairs which you may think desirable, and throw the rest
away. I hereby renounce all claim on any success that you may
hereafter bring about, in regard to them. We shall still remain
true brothers, and may still reciprocally help one another. If
can aid me in finishing the heavy task I have already begun in the
education of our brothers, you will, I know, do so, and I shall
receive your help with much pleasure. It is both your right and
your duty to share this care with me.
you
But do not suppose that I write this in any momentary excite-
C
64
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
ment, and that I may repent it afterwards. The resolution has
been long in my mind, and I have only been waiting for an oppor-
tunity of expressing it to you. Do not therefore raise any objec-
tions, which will be useless. We have many other things to confer
on together.
The governor affair lies dead; I am glad to get rid of it, and
will not worry myself about it any further. I will sell the three
specimens I have cheaply.
I and the brothers heartily wish you, if not a joyful, at least a
fortunate and profitable new year. May our paths, from hence-
forth separate, bring each of us to the goal we are striving for.
Good luck to us!
William could not himself immediately give up the
patent business. He was obliged to do what he could to
extricate himself honourably from his engagements, and he
still believed at least in the Governor. When, therefore,
he had relieved Werner of his troubles in regard to it, he
made an engagement with a firm in Hamburg to act as
continental agents for that invention.
In May, 1846, he had an offer, from the Government of
Peru, of employment in that country, but he did not con-
sider the state of things there sufficiently stable to justify
him in accepting it.
On the 19th of June we find him writing a long letter to
his London colleague, containing the following passages:-
You took a part in these two inventions, which I wish, with all
my heart, had never come to my knowledge. So long as my own
property lasted I entertained no doubt that the patents would be
sold for the price which they were worth at the time, before
my means were exhausted. I was, however, disappointed . . .
I had to labour under the greatest disadvantages, and was con-
stantly exposed to the meanest chicanery. . . When I came back
from Germany I found the printing establishment much neglected,
being left under the charge of a decayed schoolmaster. I tried to
improve it, but he gave it its death-blow by a measure so utterly
absurd that I did not feel justified to sacrifice any more time about
•
CHAP. IV.]
65
DIFFICULTIES AND TROUBLES.
it. . . In addition to all this which I had to encounter, I had
sometimes not the means of living, my small paternal heritage and
all other property being entirely consumed. Thus I have passed
two and a half years in perfect secludedness and painful
anxiety, devoting the best strength of my life entirely to these two
inventions, the fate of which I have not even the power to con-
trol. . . . The advance of money binds me in honour to persist
in our mutual cause, without seeing any chance of their proving
beneficial to me. I have already been obliged to reject two
•
offers which would have secured me a comfortable living.
How I can, under these circumstances, prove my energy I am at
a loss to understand. I wish for work, and plenty of employment
is the only thing that makes me feel happy.
Discussions of this kind went on till the end of the
year, when he succeeded in bringing the whole affair to
an end.
Lamentable, however, as all this was while it lasted,
there is no doubt that it served a useful purpose, by
educating and training Mr. Siemens for his future career.
Notwithstanding his great ingenuity, he was as yet
wanting in practical experience of the technical difficulties
which beset new mechanical inventions, and he was still
more ignorant of the multifarious obstacles which stand in
the way of their commercial success. The idea that an
invention which appears promising to the inventor ought
at once to find a remunerative application, is a delusion
which too often exists in young and sanguine minds, and
which is only to be eradicated by bitter experience. These
years served to purge young Siemens's mind of many
such fallacies; he not only acquired in them a much larger
and more useful technical experience (for it is an axiom
in engineering that failures are the best teachers), but they
made him better acquainted with the commercial views of
inventive industry, and these advantages amply compen-
sated him in future life for the troubles he had undergone.
F
66
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
AIR PUMPS.
During this period Mr. Siemens brought out another
invention, which, although it did not yield him any profit,
is worth mentioning. It was an improvement in the
manner of exhausting air by mechanical power.
His attention was drawn, in 1845, to the atmospheric
railway system, which was at that time exciting considerable
interest, and on the 10th of March in that year he wrote to
Mr. Charles May (an eminent engineer who had occupied
himself in that matter), proposing an improvement in the
mode of exhausting the air from the atmospheric tube.
Nothing came of this at the time, but about a year later
the suggestion was renewed. The invention was examined
and thought well of by Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Cubitt,
Mr. Brunel, and Mr. Samuda, the promoters of the line,
and it was determined to make a trial of the plan, when
the action of the railway became deranged, and the system
was abandoned.
Mr. Siemens, however, included the invention in the
specification of his second Governor Patent of the 24th
December, 1845. The chief part was briefly described by
him in the claim as "a Double Cylinder Air-Pump for
compressing or exhausting elastic fluids generally, thereby
diffusing their resistance more equally over the up and
down stroke of the pistons." The two cylinders were of
unequal capacities, and were so arranged that the com-
pressing side of the first or larger cylinder communicated
with the suction side of the second or smaller one, whereby
the limit of exhaustion was much extended.
The plan was afterwards used with success, particularly
for exhaustion in sugar-boiling.
CHAP. IV.] THE REGENERATIVE STEAM-ENGINE.
67
HEAT AND ITS APPLICATIONS.
The Regenerative Steam-Engine.
Being wearied with the troubles of the governor and the
printing patents, Mr. Siemens determined to strike out a
new line of action.
During the year 1846 he had occasion to visit the manu-
facturing districts of Lancashire, and, seeing a prospect of
profitable employment there, in the early part of 1847 he
removed to Manchester, where we find him addressed, first
at No. 4, Town Hall Buildings, and subsequently at II,
Talavera Place, Broughton, and 50, Burlington Street,
Green Hays.
He appears to have been engaged on several engineering
matters for different parties, but his principal source of
income was derived from an engagement at the large print
works of Messrs. Hoyle and Sons, Mayfield. Following
up the ideas he had carried out at Messrs. Elkington's, he
had entertained a plan for the electric coating of metals,
not, as before, for the sake of appearance, but by a thicker
and more substantial deposit, which should be serviceable
in the arts; and he further proposed, in connexion with
this, to make more extended use of the electrolytical
process as a mode of copying engraved designs. At the
Mayfield Print Works, among other things, he made
extensive experiments with the view of improving, by these
means, the modes of obtaining the engraved copper rollers.
used in calico printing.
But the most important result of his residence in the
Lancashire district was the attention he paid to the nature
of steam-power. This was the foundation of the whole
industry of the country; steam-power depended on the
F 2
68
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND,
application of heat; and his keen observation soon showed
him that this element was but imperfectly understood, and
might probably offer a fertile field for his inventive
powers.
His anticipations proved correct, for it may be said that
heat became thenceforward the chief object of his study.
He employed himself upon it, in some form or other,
throughout the whole of his subsequent life, and his later
labours in regard to it assumed a magnitude beyond any
other of his occupations.
He had studied the theory of heat, and had kept pace
with all the later discoveries therein. He had made himself
master of the profound investigations of Joule, Mayer,
Carnot, and others, and had become well acquainted with
the great modern doctrine of the Conservation of Energy,
of which the dynamic theories of heat had furnished such
conclusive demonstration.
Applying to these theoretical considerations his eminently
practical mind, he could not fail to see what an enormous
loss of valuable energy was continually going on, by the
waste of heat, in almost all manufacturing and industrial
processes, and it became his earnest endeavour to discover
and introduce means of saving this wasted power. He
had already, towards the end of 1846, been discussing
with his brother Werner the action of heat as a power-
giving element, and he was prepared to take any oppor-
tunity that offered for continuing his investigations in a
practical shape.
His first efforts were naturally directed to the steam-
engine, for it had been one of the first corollaries from the
thermo-dynamic theory that this machine, in its most
perfected state, only utilized a small fraction of the energy
developed by its combustion of coal.
CHAP. IV.] THE REGENERATIVE STEAM-ENGINE. 69
In the spring of 1847, being engaged at the works of
Mr. John Graham, of Manchester, he had occasion to
undertake some operations with the condensing apparatus
of the engine, and turning over in his mind the subject of
the loss of heat, he conceived the idea of an arrange-
ment which he thought would save some portions of this
waste.
After a full discussion of the invention with his brother,
he consulted, confidentially, Mr. John Hick, an eminent
mechanical engineer of Bolton, on the matter; and Mr.
Hick, after making some experiments, gave his opinion
that though there would be many practical difficulties in
applying the invention, yet the principle was good and
promising, and it deserved a trial. He further liberally
agreed to construct, under Mr. Siemens's direction, an
experimental engine, in order to test the practicability of
the scheme.
This engine was ready towards the end of the year; it
was of four horse-power, and its results were so far suc-
cessful as to encourage Mr. Siemens to proceed with the
patent, which was accordingly granted on the 22nd of
December, 1847, under the title of "Improvements in
Engines to be worked by Steam and other Fluids."
In addition to the engine built by Mr. Hick, he had
engaged with Messrs. Hoyle to construct for them an
experimental condenser and a drying apparatus, both
embodying applications of the new principle, and by the
aid of these constructions he occupied himself in working
out and improving the details of his plan for a great part
of the year 1848.
The designs being matured, Mr. Siemens sought for
help in carrying out his invention, and Mr. Woods intro-
duced him to a manufacturing firm of great eminence and
large capabilities, Messrs. Fox, Henderson, and Co., of
70
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
Smethwick, near Birmingham. Some negotiations took
place, and their nature may be inferred from the following
draft letter found among Mr. Siemens's papers :-
3, BARGE YARD CHAMBERS, BUCKLERSBURY,
20th June, 1848.
Messrs. CHARLES Fox and JOHN Henderson,
GENTLEMEN,—In reference to our conversation respect-
ing my patent for "Improvements in Engines to be worked by
Steam and other Fluids," sealed on the 22nd of December, 1847,
I beg to inform you that I desire your assistance by entering fully
into the manufacture of these engines, and taking on yourselves
the expenses contingent thereon, excepting so far as regards the
outlay incurred by Mr. Hick, of Bolton, in consideration of which
he is entitled to receive 1 sterling per horse-power of 70,000 lbs.
raised 1 foot high per minute, as shown by indicator.
It is my desire and intention that you should have the exclusive
working of the patent, in such manner as may hereafter prove
most advantageous to all interested therein; and in order to
induce you to use your best endeavours to introduce these im-
provements, I am willing to sell you one-third share in the pro-
perty of the said patents for England and Scotland for the sum of
£1000 sterling, to be paid as follows: £500 within one month
from the date hereof, and the remainder by a bill at six months
date from the payment of the first instalment.
I hereby acknowledge a first payment of £100 on account of
the first instalment, for which I give you my acceptance secured
on the patent until our final agreement is completed, in order that
you may have the said £ico returned if our final agreement should
by any event fail.
CO
I am, yours truly,
C. W. SIEMENS.
This draft appears to have been written by Mr. Joseph
Woods, who always acted as Mr. Siemens's adviser, until
his sudden death by cholera in the fearful epidemic of that
disease which prevailed in London in the autumn of 1849.
His loss was a real calamity to Mr. Siemens, as, notwith-
CHAP. IV.] THE REGENERATIVE STEAM-ENGINE.
71
standing occasional differences, Mr. Woods had been always
one of his best friends.
The negotiation with Messrs. Fox and Henderson does
not appear to have led, at that time, to any definite arrange-
ment, nor indeed does Mr. Siemens seem then to have
been very sanguine as to the success of his invention; for
on a visit to his sister at Kiel in the beginning of 1849, an
idea was seriously put forward by him that he, with his
brothers Frederick and Carl, should go over to the gold
diggings in California, which were then attracting multi-
tudes of enterprising spirits. This proposal was, as usual,
discussed in the correspondence between the brothers, and
a few characteristic remarks by Werner upon it, in letters
ranging between January and March, may be extracted.
He said:-
เ
Your earnest wish to go on adventures in a far land is intelli-
gible to me. I should have it in your place, and indeed have had
it. I am not inclined to warn you, or even to express a wish
against it; it would grieve me to see you take a step which might
part us for ever, but I should rejoice as much to see you make
your fortune there as here.
Then it is clear America is rising; we are sinking; and an in-
dustrious and well-educated man will there always fall on his feet.
So if you, Fritz and Carl, are adventurous and resolve to go, I
will offer no impediment, but will give you every help I can.
I believe, however, that it is better to make gold than to seek it ;
the value of hand-labour must be equilibrated, and since gold-
seeking has become a mania, this labour must be the worst pro-
vided for. Brewing, distilling, tool-making, and so on, will be the
best means for seeking gold.
The idea was abandoned, and the negotiations with
Messrs. Fox and Henderson were resumed. At the end of
November, Mr. Fox, accompanied by his chief engineering
manager, Mr. Edward Cowper, went to Mr. Hick's factory
at Bolton, to see the new engine, which was shown and
72
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
explained by Mr. Siemens. Its working was not very
satisfactory, but after some further consideration the firm
agreed to take the matter in hand. It was, however,
thought desirable that Mr. Siemens should be on the spot
to give his personal services, and an arrangement was
made for him to attend in Messrs. Fox and Henderson's
manufactory, receiving, not only his interest in the patents,
but also a fixed salary of £400 a year, which relieved him
from anxiety as to his means of livelihood.
He accordingly removed to Birmingham, and entered on
his work early in the year 1849, taking a lodging at
Summerfield Cottage, Birmingham Heath, a mile or two
from the factory where he was occupied. He had an office
to himself, and was given the services of the chief drafts-
man of the firm, to aid him in the designs. At a later
date, his brother Frederick, who had come over from
Berlin, was engaged by the same firm at a salary of £2
per week, to aid in the preparation of the drawings, and in
other works connected with his inventions.
This arrangement lasted some years, and was of much
advantage to Mr. Siemens; it enabled him to carry out
experiments serving as a preparation for the brilliant heat-
applications of his after-life; and, what was of equal
importance, his work and attentive observation in a
factory renowned as one of the first schools of mechanical
engineering in the country, gave him an amount of practical
experience which was of the greatest benefit in his futuré
career. He profited much by the advice and assistance
of Mr. Cowper, who remained his firm friend through life,
and gave him essential support in his later heat-
inventions.
It may here be advisable to give some brief description
of the "Regenerative Steam-Engine."
CHAP. IV.] THE REGENERATIVE STEAM-ENGINE.
73
The patent of 1847 shows that in Mr. Siemens's first
attempt at heat-saving, he endeavoured to apply the
eminently simple and practical idea which afterwards
formed the leading feature of his great heat-inventions,
namely, what was called the "regenerative principle.”
He found that in almost all industrial applications of
fuel, heat was lost by the passing away of currents at
high temperatures; and it occurred to him that by
presenting suitable masses of solid conducting matter
to these currents, their superfluous heat might be taken
up, and might then be given out again in some useful
way.
<<
The simplest illustration of this process may be found
(though applied for a different purpose) in the ordinary
respirator" used by consumptive persons. A pierced
metallic plate is fixed over the mouth, and when the warm
breath is exhaled, its heat is taken up by the metal, so
that in the following inhalation, the cold air, passing in the
reverse direction through the pierced plate, picks up again
the heat stored therein, and so becomes warmed before
entering the lungs.
The application of this principle to the arts is easily
understood. If any highly heated current, escaping from a
heating operation, is made to pass through such a “respi-
rator" before it reaches the atmosphere, it will deposit a
certain amount of its heat in the metal; and if, then, a
cold current from the atmosphere be sent through it in
a reverse direction, it will pick up such heat again and
become warmed, so saving fuel. This is the "Regenera-
tive Principle." The name is not appropriate, as there
is no regeneration of heat; it is only a temporary ab-
sorption and a subsequent giving out again, as water
may be temporarily absorbed by a sponge; but the term
74
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
has come into use for the purpose, and can hardly now
be changed.*
It is right to say that the principle in question was not
claimed as an original discovery by Mr. Siemens. It had
been clearly described in a patent taken out as early as
1816 by the Rev. Dr. Stirling, and had been applied both
by him and by Captain Ericsson to heated-air engines;
but it was looked upon by engineers as unsound in prin-
ciple, and its application had very little beneficial result.
Mr. Siemens saw not only its theoretical correctness, but
its great practical value, and the wide success it afterwards
attained fully justified his views.
The patent showed two applications of this principle,
namely, a "Regenerative Engine," and a "Regenerative
Condenser." The first of these was
a very elaborate
machine. It followed, generally speaking, the principle of
the previously existing heated-air engine, but with the
substitution of superheated steam for air. The steam was
used in a single-acting vertical cylinder, the lower part of
which was heated by a furnace. After propelling the piston
upwards, the steam was withdrawn from the cylinder and
passed through a respirator, where it deposited a large
portion of its heat, and became cooled and reduced in
pressure, so allowing the working piston to descend. It
* The erroneous name is due, however, not to Mr. Siemens but to
Dr. Stirling, the inventor of the apparatus. In a letter to Mr. Manby,
dated Oct. 1, 1853, Mr. Siemens said, "Have the kindness to assure
Mr. Stirling that I have no desire to undervalue the merit of his
brother and himself, which merit I consider is very great indeed, since
I have learnt that they are the originators of the Respirator (or
Regenerator). I shall be glad to profit by any further correction
or suggestion which Mr. Stirling may wish to make; and perceiving
him to repudiate the name ‘Respirator,' I really think he would confer
a benefit on posterity if he would give his child a proper name, that
of 'Regenerator' being certainly incorrect, and likely to produce
misconception."
CHAP. IV.] THE REGENERATIVE STEAM-ENGINE.
75
ر.
was then forced back, picking up a portion of the heat
again, and receiving a further increase of temperature
from the fire, to cause it to repeat its working stroke as
before.
A small quantity of fresh steam at high pressure (but
only about one-tenth of the contents of the cylinder) was
admitted from a boiler at the beginning of every working
stroke, and a corresponding quantity was allowed to escape
in its expanded and cooled condition into the atmosphere
or into a condenser.
Two cylinders of this kind worked side by side, with
alternating strokes, and acting on the same crank-shaft.
The respiratory or "regenerative" process was at first
performed in a series of successive chambers; but the
action was afterwards simplified by the substitution of a
regenerative cylinder and piston, and respiratory surfaces
more nearly resembling the original simple type of the
apparatus.
Another important feature of Mr. Siemens's patent was
what he called his "Regenerative Condenser," which he
afterwards further improved by a modification patented on
the 20th of March, 1849. In order to get a good exhaus-
tion, it was desirable to keep the condenser cold, while to
feed the boiler it was advantageous that the water coming
from the condenser should be as hot as possible. He
contrived to make the regenerative principle satisfy these
antagonistic requirements in an ingenious way.
He made
the exhaust steam first pass through a metallic respirator,
so depositing a large portion of its heat; after which it
entered the condenser proper, which was kept cold, and in
which accordingly exhaustion was obtained. The water
collected in the condenser was then forced back through
the respirator, so picking up the heat again from the
metallic surfaces and arriving at the "hot well" in a highly
76
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
heated state, to be fed into the boiler. The advantages he
expected to obtain were chiefly increased power from the
better exhaustion, and the saving of heat by using boiling
feed-water.
The manufacture of the engine was duly taken in hand
at Fox and Henderson's works according to the agreement,
but it progressed very slowly. A condenser, designed
according to the improved plan of 1849, was made in
September of that year, and attached to a 16-horse-power
engine at Saltley Works near Birmingham. It was not
perfect, but it served to illustrate the principle.
On the strength of this, Mr. Siemens, in May, 1850, gave
a description of the condenser to the Society of Arts, ex-
plaining its principle, and stating the result of its working.
Mr. Robert Stephenson was in the chair, and after the
reading of the paper a considerable discussion arose, in
which the Chairman, Mr. Scott Russell, Mr. Crampton, and
others took part, the general opinion being in praise of the
novelty and ingenuity of the invention. The result was
that the Society awarded Mr. Siemens, for it, their gold
medal, which was presented to him on the 22nd of July in
that year.
In 1851 he wrote another paper for the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, entitled, "On a new Regenerative
Condenser for High and Low Pressure Steam Engines."
It was read at the meeting of the Institution at Birmingham,
on the 30th July, 1851. The author gave a short historic
sketch of the steam-engine condenser generally, explain-
ing his new arrangement, and its mode of application to
different forms of engine.
About the same time, one of the complete Regenerative
Engines, of 100-horse power, was put in hand, but it was a
long time under construction, and the experiments made
CHAP. IV.]
77
REGENERATIVE EVAPORATION.
with it were not satisfactory. On the 26th of March, 1851,
Werner wrote-
Your delay in announcing the success of your engine troubles
me; I believe you will have found many defects which must be
remedied. But hold up your head if the first attempts fail; you
have strength enough to build success upon them.
こ
​On June 2nd the prospect seemed brighter, although
Werner still advised patience—
Quantitative determinations are necessary to prove the value of
the thing, and longer experiments will in any case lead to many
modifications. Rome was not built in a day!
Werner was right; for at the end of 1851, the results
obtained by the engine were so doubtful, that it was de-
cided to construct a new one on altered plans.
Regenerative Evaporation.
During Mr. Siemens's work on his engine, it occurred to
him that the regenerative principle might be applicable
with advantage to other purposes where heat was em-
ployed, and among them to the process of evaporating
liquids on a large scale, as in the manufacture of salt and
sugar, and in distilling operations. Towards the end of
1848, he entered into communication with some large salt
manufacturers on the subject; he did not get much en-
couragement from them, but he included the apparatus in
his patent of 1849.
He called it a "Regenerative Evaporator." It was a
most elaborate arrangement of evaporating pans, but its
general nature may be expressed by the following quota-
tion from the patent specification:
The improvement in the process of evaporating brine or other
liquid consists of so constructing apparatus for that purpose that
78
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
the steam or other vapour, which is formed in consequence of the
evaporation of the said liquid, is caused either to accumulate, or
to be compressed into a smaller compass, whereby its temperature
is increased, and it is made available to support the further evapo-
ration of the same liquid by its own continued re-condensation, in
consequence whereof a large saving of fuel is effected.
According to this process, he stated, the vapour, "by a
process of accumulation, is made to yield its latent heat
continually back to the evaporating brine, and hence the
effect of the fire may be multiplied indefinitely.”
Mr. Siemens attached great importance to this inven-
tion, and he hoped great things from its introduction on
the Continent, where large salt and sugar industries were
carried on, and where, fuel being dear, the importance of
saving therein was very great.
He had, as usual, explained the matter to his brother
Werner, who fully entered into his views, and exerted him-
self actively during some years to introduce the invention
in Germany. Patents were taken out for many countries,
and negotiations were opened in all directions with persons
engaged in salt and sugar works and other industries to
which the inventions might apply.
But the manufacturers were, as the English ones had
been, shy of adopting the novel process. It required an
entire remodelling of their works, and a great outlay
of capital, which they did not feel warranted in under-
taking, without an unmistakable assurance of the success
of the plan.
Here lay the difficulty. The Messrs. Siemens obtained
plenty of statistics; they used the most elaborate reason-
ing to show the advantages that might be expected, and
produced ingenious working-models in support of their
views. But the manufacturers were obstinate in their re-
CHAP. IV.] REGENERATIVE EVAPORATION.
79
luctance to be convinced; they ignored all the arguments,
and said that small models might be delusive; they re-
quired that positive and unquestionable results should be
produced by trials on an actual practical scale, before they
would embark their capital on the changes required.
Werner saw the justice of these demands, and accord-
ingly decided to erect, in Germany, at the cost of himself
and his brother, a full-sized apparatus, which might be
experimented on and perfected by themselves, and the
results of which might be exhibited to those interested.
This was done, and Frederick was sent over to superintend
the work. It cost a great deal of money, and after all
produced no result sufficiently favourable to make a com-
mercial success.
Meantime the attempts in the English market had been
renewed. Towards the middle of 1850, Mr. Siemens went
to Northwich, in Cheshire, and made some experiments on
the application of his regenerative evaporator to some of
the salt works there. These experiments were inquired
into by Messrs. Fox and Henderson, who, having satisfied
themselves on the matter, undertook to manufacture the
apparatus along with the regenerative steam-engine.
It was proposed to form a Company to work the in-
vention, but the English salt-makers still hesitated to
encourage the change, the advantages of which they con-
sidered doubtful on account of the cheapness of their
fuel.
Messrs. Fox and Henderson, however, succeeded in
obtaining an order to fit up an entire apparatus at the
"Anciennes Salines Nationales de l'Est," at Lons-le-Saul-
nier, in France. This was ready at the end of 1851, but it
was stopped in London on account of some difficulties
raised by the French Customs, and never reached its des-
80
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
tination. Mr. Siemens went to France to try to pass it,
but without success, and the loss attending the transaction
was the cause of much unpleasant discussion between him.
and Messrs. Fox and Henderson.
The relations between them had, indeed, become
"strained" some time before; for the manufacturers, not
finding the inventions turn out so profitable as they
expected, had become somewhat less courteous to the
inventor. The discomfort went on for some time; when
the Lons-le-Saulnier losses and difficulties brought it to a
climax, and Mr. Siemens's personal engagement with
Messrs. Fox and Henderson was put an end to.
ELECTRICAL WORK.
After William had been a few years in England he com-
menced the occupation on electrical business which after-
wards expanded to such large dimensions.
The early proceedings of himself and his brother in
regard to electro-depositing have already been mentioned;
but after William's departure for England, Werner took up
the science of electricity in a wider sense, devoting special
attention to the theory and practical construction of the
electric telegraph, which was then scarcely known in Ger-
many outside the circle of men of science. When it began
to assume a practical shape, namely, about 1844, Werner
brought his knowledge and inventive power to bear upon
it. He designed telegraphs, and patented important im-
provements in them, which soon became popular.
He did not, however, at first manufacture them himself,
the actual construction being carried out during the years
1844, 1845, and 1846, by arrangement with several manu-
facturers, the chief of whom was the mechanic Leonhard,
already mentioned as connected with the invention of the
CHAP. IV.]
81
ELECTRICAL WORK.
chronometric governor. In a letter to William of 3rd
January, 1846, Werner gave particulars of his arrange-
ments with these parties; he mentioned important works.
in prospect, and declared his intention of devoting himself
henceforward, heart and soul, to the promoting of this
enterprise.
On the 13th December of the same year he again
wrote-
I am now resolved to establish for myself a fixed career for tele-
graphy. This will become a special and important branch of
scientific engineering, and I feel that I have a call to take up its
organization, as it is, I am convinced, yet in its infancy.
One result of this "call" was the determination to set
up a manufactory of his own, when the opportunity might
arise. He had become acquainted with a mechanician
named Halske, of whom he thought highly, but who
was engaged in a manufacturing business with another
person. It happened that, towards the middle of 1847
this partnership became dissolved, and Werner at once
entered into negotiations with Mr. Halske, which re-
sulted in the establishment of a factory in their joint
names.
As this was the small beginning of one of the largest
and most successful undertakings of the kind ever known,
and one eminently influencing William's career, it may be
interesting to give the simple and modest chronicle of its
rise and progress in Werner's own words, taken from
various letters to his brother at the time. He says, in
August, 1847:-
I have now made a definite arrangement with the mechanician
Mr. Halske (who has separated from his former partner) for the
establishment of a manufactory, and hope that in six weeks it will
be in full work.
G
82
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
He explains how the necessary funds will be provided,
and goes on-
Mr. Halske, whom I have fully associated with me in the affair,
will undertake the management of the shop, and I shall devote
myself to the laying of the lines, the arranging of the contracts,
&c. We shall for the present manufacture only telegraph instru-
ments, signalling apparatus for railways, and wire insulated by
gutta-percha. We shall, however, I think, call it a Machine Fac-
tory (Maschinen Bau-Anstalt), in order to leave our hands free.
The capital required is small; a few thousand thalers will suffice
for the building, and we may, if we are fortunate, turn this over a
hundred times in a year. Such a factory is urgently needed, and
we are protected against rivalry by my patents, and the influence
of my position, which is now considerable.
After long seeking, a suitable locality has been found and engaged:
the windows look upon the Anhalt Railway, which I shall in all
probability have to provide with apparatus; this will be very con-
venient, as we can test the instruments in the workshop. I live
on the ground floor; the workshop is on the first storey, and
Halske lives on the second. The work will begin on the 1st of
October.
On the IIth of that month he writes-
I have now resided eight days in my new home, and a great
deal of hammering and filing has been going on over my
head.
We are sadly off for machine-tools, as one of the lathes has given
way, and we have only now one to use, though five were ordered.
Halske is a thoroughly practical, clever, and good fellow, with
whom I shall get on capitally, and whom I feel bound to bring
honourably forward.
On the 20th of December he says-
Our factory is now fully occupied, and we employ ten men ;
but Halske cannot leave his post, and we must get further
assistance.
In 1848-9, the firm undertook a large contract for tele-
CHAP. IV.]
83
ELECTRICAL WORK.
graphs from Berlin to Frankfort and Cologne; and in
December, 1849, Werner wrote-
The workshop now numbers thirty-two hands, and will soon be
increased to forty-five; we can turn out four telegraphs a week,
which will suffice for the next year... The orders promise to
amount to six.
I hope our time of trial is now over, and that life will now turn
to us all its agreeable side. You, dear William, have certainly
deserved it by your long and determined battle with its unfavourable
circumstances.
At the end of 1850 the factory was still more prosperous;
money was plentiful, the firm having some £1,500 in their
banker's hands, and great improvements were in full pro-
gress.
At the Great International Exhibition of 1851, in Hyde
Park, Messrs. Siemens and Halske exhibited a large assort-
ment of specimens of their telegraph work "as used on all
Prussian Government lines, and on most of the railway
lines of Northern Germany, making a total of about 3,000
miles, besides extensive lines in construction in Russia and
other countries." Among these exhibits were a novel
system of magneto-electric telegraphs with underground
wires, and specimens of "gutta-percha coated electric line
wire, first invented by Mr. [Werner] Siemens, and applied
by him on a large scale since 1847." They were awarded
a Council medal, and the system was spoken of in the Jury
Report with high praise.
At the end of 1851 the firm took much larger premises,
costing them £7,500, and from that time forward their
course was one of constant prosperity. The demand
became very great, the contracts more numerous, and the
nature of the work more comprehensive, until the establish-
ment took a position as one of the chief centres for the
application of electricity and magnetism in the industrial
G 2
84
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
arts, and acquired, by the magnitude of its operations and
the excellence of its work, a world-wide reputation.
When Werner's telegraph work had begun to take a
settled form, he lost no time in engaging William to co-
operate with him by making his inventions known in Eng-
land, and endeavouring to get orders for them; and on the
establishment of the factory this co-operation became more
desirable. William, therefore, undertook this duty, which
was not inconsistent with his continued work at his inven-
tions in Fox and Henderson's factory.
About the middle of 1848 Frederick Siemens, who had
for some time been acting as an assistant at Berlin, came
over to England with samples of new machines and appa-
ratus, and aided William in his endeavours to introduce
them.
On the 9th of June, 1849, Werner wrote to William as
follows. Alluding to the execution of orders from England,
he said-
I do not know whether the English import duty is 10 or 20 per
cent.; if the latter, it would be advantageous to make the work in
England in order to avoid it. The construction of delicate
machinery of this kind is but little cultivated in that country, as is
shown by the fact that some of the most important scientific
instruments wanted there have to be made either in Paris, or in
Berlin, or in Vienna. I believe that at a future time you will
yourself establish an engineering factory in England, and then we
must arrange that you shall take up a branch of our electrical
business, for which we will send you competent workmen, while
we, in return, will work an engineering factory here to be laid
down for us by you. It is true that for this purpose some hun-
dred thousand dollars must be saved, but this may be done in a
few years, if we go on as we have done hitherto. . . . For your
English orders you shall soon receive telegraphs which will outdo
all hitherto produced. You yourself shall name your share of the
profits, but do not make it too small, for I would rather see tive
CHAP. IV.]
85
ELECTRICAL WORK.
>
dollars in your pocket than two in my own. In no case should it
be less than 10 per cent., when the apparatus is ordered from
here.
Werner's bold prediction as to the establishment of an
English factory was afterwards, as we shall see, magnifi-
cently realized.
On July 30, 1849, William read a Paper at the Society
of Arts describing his brother's construction of telegraphs.
He illustrated the Paper by models and diagrams, and
the description seems to have attracted considerable
attention.
In 1850 the English agency had become of so much
importance that a more formal agreement was entered into
for it as follows:
LONDON, March 16, 1850.
The undersigned have this day come to the following agree-
ment:-
Werner Siemens, for himself and in the name of the company
"Siemens and Halske," gives over to William Siemens the agency,
for England, of several inventions in the region of electro-magnetic
telegraphs.
William Siemens takes on himself the entire work and charge,
and will carry out sales and other measures, according to his
judgment, suitable to the purpose.
and an
The cost of patents, &c., will be borne by the company,
advance of £210 has already been made to William Siemens for
the purpose, the receipt of which he acknowledges.
The profit arising out of the undertaking shall be divided as
follows: viz., two-thirds of the net profits to Siemens and Halske,
and one-third to William Siemens.
For orders for apparatus to be made for England in the Berlin
factory, William Siemens is to reckon 12 per cent. increase for
his trouble. Further profits are to be divided as above described,
in the ratio of 2: : I.
If William Siemens is unable to devote sufficient time to trans-
act all the business arising out of this contract, he shall employ
86.
[CHAP. IV.
FIRST YEARS IN ENGLAND.
Frederick Siemens to assist him, and shall give him for such assist-
ance one-quarter of his portion of profits.
(Signed)
WERNER SIEMENS,
C. WM. SIEMENS.
William's first work, under this agreement, was to intro-
duce, in March, 1850, his brother's gutta-percha wire covering
to the British Electric Telegraph Company, and a few months
later he carried out an arrangement for working the manu-
facture in this country.
He further induced Messrs. Fox and Henderson to
interest themselves in the telegraph work, and this led to
large telegraph contracts being executed, partly by them
and partly by Siemens and Halske, under William's direc-
tion, on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway and else-
where.
CHAPTER V.
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE.
Age 29 to 36.
1852 to 1859.
Commences Business in London—The Regenerative Steam Engine
shown at the French Exposition — Continental Company for
working the Invention-Regenerative Evaporation-The Re-
generative Furnace-Frederick Siemens-Refrigeration-The
Water Meter-Its great Success-The Chronometric Governor—
Electrical work-Submarine Cables-Workshop established at
Millbank in London-Domestic Life-Professor Lewis Gordon
and his Family-Mr. Siemens's Marriage and Naturalization as a
British Subject.
HAVING now gained considerable experience, both
technical and commercial, by his seven years' active
though chequered life in England, Mr. Siemens resolved
to enter into business on his own account.
After leaving Birmingham he returned to London, and
stayed some time at the Panton Hotel, Haymarket; but
in March, 1852, he took an office at No. 7, John Street,
Adelphi, with the view of practising as a civil engineer.
He had already become pretty well known as an ingenious
mechanical inventor, and, while he continued his exertions
to introduce his most important inventions, he laid himself
out to undertake any general professional work that would
earn him money.
Accordingly, during nearly the whole of this period, he
had many things on his hands at the same time, and with
88
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
that versatility of resource so characteristic of him, he
appears to have devoted to each the attention that it
specially required, without neglect or confusion. It will
facilitate the description of his labours to notice the various
subjects separately.
THE REGENERATIVE STEAM-ENGINE.
The matter that occupied him most was his endeavour
to apply the scientific principles of heat to a new form of
steam-engine. We have explained in the last chapter the
origin and nature of this, and have chronicled his un-
successful efforts during several years to carry his idea into
practice. Notwithstanding, however, the difficulties that
attended these efforts he still persevered bravely.
In 1852 he undertook, for his own satisfaction, an im-
portant series of experiments on the total heat of steam
and its expansion when in an isolated state, which he
described to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, on
the 29th June, 1852. This was also translated into German,
and published in "Dingler's Polytechnisches Journal."
In the meantime he had been at work towards the
practical construction of his engine, on which he had
already been occupied with Messrs. Fox and Henderson.
On October 9, 1852, he took out a patent for improvements
in it, consisting generally of modifications of the former
arrangement, combined with a peculiar heating apparatus,
whereby he expected to obtain great strength to resist
pressure at high temperatures, and a large development of
heating surface in a narrow compass.
Towards the end of 1852 he finished the modified design,
and Messrs. Fox and Henderson, who still continued their
practical interest in the invention, agreed to make a new
CHAP. V.] THE REGENERATIVE ENGINE.
89
engine. Mr. Siemens resolved to devote, for a time, his
whole attention to its construction and trial, and accordingly
he took up his residence again in Birmingham, sending for
his brother Carl, then in Paris, to undertake the duties of his
London office. This work appears to have occupied him,
more or less, from January till April, 1853.
He then wrote to Messrs. Fox and Henderson long and
full reports of his trials, and the results he had obtained.
He stated that the principle involved had been " fully
realized in its practical working," and that the engine had
exerted considerable power; but that in its then incomplete
state it was under several serious disadvantages, particularly
losses by leakage, and he recommended its completion,
with certain alterations.
He now determined to make a new effort to interest the
engineering world in what he was doing, and for this
purpose he wrote another essay, of a much more advanced
and elaborate nature than his former one, in order to
explain the scientific principles on which his invention was
based, and more generally the doctrines and practice affect-
ing heat as a source of mechanical power.
He presented this Paper to the Institution of Civil
Engineers, and it was read there on the 17th May, 1853.
It was entitled, "On the Conversion of Heat into
Mechanical Effect," and was divided into three heads.
The first, "On the Relations between Heat and Mechanical
Effect," was, in fact, a somewhat elaborate exposition of
the then new doctrine of thermo-dynamics, considered as
bearing on practical engineering matters, and particularly
on heat motors. The second head was,
The second head was, "On the Perform-
ance of Actual Engines, including Heated-Air Engines;'
and the third was, "On the Necessary Characteristics of a
Perfect Engine." The Paper showed great knowledge and
""
90
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
ability; it excited an interesting discussion, in which
several eminent engineers took part,* and it received from
the Institution the award of their Telford Silver Medal.
It was afterwards translated into Italian, and published in
Genoa, by the company formed at a later time to work the
invention.
In the meantime Messrs. Fox and Henderson had been
considering the reports of the action of the experimental
engine furnished them by Mr. Siemens, and his proposals
in regard to its completion. They, however, viewing the
question rather from a commercial than from a scientific
point of view, were not satisfied as to the prospects of
success it offered. They discussed the matter with him,
and in July, 1853, an agreement was come to that.
Mr. Crampton, an engineer of much experience in steam
machinery, should be called in to give his advice on the
subject generally. The result of this measure was a deci-
sion, in which Mr. Siemens appears to have acquiesced,
that the form of the engine was not favourable to the
beneficial application of the principle; and it was agreed
that he should prepare drawings for a new construction on
an altered design.
But
This disappointment, after such long-continued labour,
affected his health, and he felt the necessity of rest.
he could not delay the engine matter, and he wrote to his
brother Frederick, who was then at Stettin, instructing him
to do what he could towards the preparation of the new
drawings. In the beginning of September, feeling some-
what better, he went to Berlin, and after a month of happy
* At that meeting the author of this work undertook at some length
the defence of Mr. Siemens's views respecting the action of the
respirator, which had been called in question on that and former
occasions.
CHAP. V.] 、 THE REGENERATIVE ENGINE.
91
intercourse with his family, he returned to London fairly
recovered.
The designs for the engine took much time, and were
not finished till March, 1854, when the drawings, fifteen in
number, were submitted to Messrs. Fox and Henderson,
and, after examination by them, were transferred to
Mr. Hick, of Bolton, who had in this case undertaken the
manufacture. The engine, which was of 15 horse-power,
was tried in January, 1855, and the results showed con-
siderable improvement.
On the strength of this several other engines were made,
varying from 5 to 40 horse-power, and were erected at
various places in England, France, and Germany. Two of
them, of 5 and 20 horse-power respectively, were shown
and worked at the "Exposition Universelle," held in Paris
in 1855, where the invention was awarded a First-Class
Medal. The regenerator, according to Mr. Siemens's
account, fulfilled its office with surprising perfection, and
considerable economy of fuel resulted. Notwithstanding a
break-down when the engine was exhibited before the
Emperor, a French manufacturer, having watched its work-
ing for some time, purchased it, after repair had been made,
at a fair price.
On the 11th April, 1856, Mr. Siemens described the
engine in a lecture at the Royal Institution in Albemarle
Street. After alluding to the dynamic theory of heat, he
explained that, in an ordinary steam engine, viewed from
the position of the new theory, only one-fourteenth of the
total heat imparted to the boiler was really converted into
mechanical effect, the remaining thirteen-fourteenths being
lost, chiefly in the condenser. He then described his im-
proved engine, which was, he said, the result of nearly ten
years' experimental researches, and which he believed to
92
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
be the first practical application of the dynamic theory of
heat for the purpose of saving fuel. He professed by its
means to provide a motive force at one-third or one-fourth
part of the cost and incumbrance of the present steam
engine.
In June he took out a patent for modifications of the
details, and for the use of super-heated steam.
The success of the engine at the Paris Exhibition at-
tracted much attention to it on the Continent, from the
promise it offered of a large saving of fuel, and a Conti-
nental company was got up in the same year for the pur-
pose of manufacturing the engine. It had its principal
seat in Genoa, and was called the "Società Anonima
Continentale, per le Macchine a Vapore, sistema Siemens,”
and Mr. Siemens was the engineer. It appears to have
been an affair of some magnitude, and to have had rami-
fications in Paris, Vienna, Liège, and other Continental
towns. The following letter to Mr. Siemens will show
the feeling of the company towards him and his inven-
tion :-
MONSIEUR,
GÊNES, 24 Novembre, 1855.
Le Conseil d'Administration de la Société Continentale
a reçu, par la Direction générale, la nouvelle, que votre machine,
qui a fonctionné avec tant de succès à l'Exposition Universelle
de Paris, a obtenu la médaille de première classe.
Nous n'ignorons pas contre quels éléments vous avez dû com-
battre parmi le Juri de l'Exposition, ni la loi qui malheureusement
a appuyé ces éléments contraires; et croyez que cette médaille
est, pour vos associés et pour Gênes, plus importante qu'une
médaille exceptionnelle accordée aux personnes qui n'ont pas eu
l'honneur d'exciter des grandes jalousies, ni de blesser de grands
intérêts.
Le Conseil me charge de vous exprimer ses félicitations, attendu
CHAP. V.] THE REGENERATIVE ENGINE.
93
que vous avez été reconnu, par tout le monde, cómme un des plus
illustres inventeurs et savants de nos temps.
Vous savez, Monsieur, qu'il n'y a pas d'invention intéressante
qui ne doit marcher à travers de grands obstacles; votre assu-
rance, basée sur la sûreté de votre découverte, l'énergie du
Directeur-Général, Marquis Cusani, qui a tant de droits à notre
reconnaissance, ont dispersé ces obstacles, et maintenant notre
Société, qui est en possession d'une si grande entreprise, vous
exprime ses remercîments par le moyen de son Conseil.
Agréez, Monsieur, ces sentiments avec lesquels j'ai l'honneur de
me signer,
Le Président du Conseil,
NICOLAS BARTHÉLÉMY,
Delle Vianetz.
The company appear to have begun actively by con-
structing engines in several places, among them being one
at Stettin. This was tried in January, 1856, but it worked
unsatisfactorily, and after a few days it broke down by the
rupture of one of the cylinders.
Mr. Siemens felt this misfortune severely; his sister
wrote to him, on the 11th of January :-
You complain of being sick in body and soul! Ah, William,
do not take these business troubles too much to heart; I feared
that the broken cylinder would give you a cruel blow; you are toc
susceptible, too ambitious; there is nothing perfect in this faulty
world.
It was not, however, in his nature to be permanently
discouraged by such an accident, for we find him at the
same time pushing on the Russian and Polish patents for
the invention; and he determined to go at once to Stettin
to have the defect remedied under his own superintendence.
He worked there some six weeks, and at the beginning of
February some new disaster happened, which caused
Werner to congratulate him on "having a whole skin.”
94 EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
The engine was got to work again by the end of
February, when, Mr. Siemens having returned to London,
his brothers Werner and Walter, with Mr. Halske, made
trials of it, but the results were not favourable. Another
engine erected by the company at Beauvais also gave
much trouble.
The company desired to have a sample engine at their
chief seat of business, and one of 4 horse-power was made
for the purpose in Paris, and was erected in Genoa at the
beginning of 1857, to work a flour-mill. It appeared to
show great economy of fuel, and a commission of Italian
government engineers, headed by the Minister of Public
Works, Signor Paleocapa, was appointed to experiment
upon it.
But in spite of these hopeful prospects, complaints were
continually made of leaks, destruction of working parts,
undue consumption of fuel, imperfect action, and so on. In
short, as Mr. Siemens remarked in one case, "nothing but
bad luck" seemed to attend the engines, which all his per-
severance and ingenuity failed to subdue.
On the 24th of April, 1858, he wrote another long
Report to be laid before the company at their annual
general meeting. He stated that financial considerations
had prevented any extensions, and that consequently he had
only to report on the progress of work already in hand.
He alluded to the difficulties encountered, which, however,
he hoped would be removed by improved designs. But
the speculation became more and more hopeless; the
shareholders at length refused to make any further
advances, and at the next annual meeting, in 1859, it was
decided to abandon the enterprise and to dissolve the
company.
CHAP. V.] THE REGENERATIVE ENGINE.
95
|
This resolution was duly communicated to Mr. Siemens,
and his reply was as follows:-
MONSIEUR LE MARQUIS CUSANI, ex-Directeur de la Société
Continentale, Gênes.
LONDRES, 20 Juillet, 1859.
MONSIEUR.
J'ai appris que l'Assemblée Générale des Actionnaires
de la Société Continentale a prononcé la dissolution de la dite
Société. Dans l'état actuel des choses et après les graves sacri-
fices que nous tous avons faits pour la réussite de notre entreprise,
je crois que la détermination qui a été prise est la plus conven-
able et la plus judicieuse. Malgré tous nos efforts, nous n'avons
pas pu réussir à obtenir une application utile et profitable pour
la Société d'une invention qui a eu l'approbation des hommes les
plus capables de l'époque (témoins le Rapport des ingénieurs
nommés par le gouvernement de Piedmont). Les actionnaires se
refusant au versement des sommes ultérieurs, il était impossible de
maintenir les appareils, et de fournir aux dépenses nécessaires pour
le maintien.
Confiant comme je suis toujours dans la vérité de mon inven-
tion, et dans le progrès futur de son application, je continuerai,
avec mes moyens particuliers, et peut-être sous de meilleures con-
ditions que celles d'une Société anonyme sans beaucoup de moyens,
l'exploitation des machines à vapeur regénérée, et j'espère que la
Providence voudra couronner mes efforts.
Voulant témoigner à tous ceux qui se sont associés à cette
entreprise et qui voulurent la seconder en prenant des actions, mon
sentiment de reconnaissance et de justice, je viens par le présent
à déclarer que, si par mes efforts particuliers l'invention sera
productive dans l'avenir, je participerai aux actionnaires l'avan-
tage que j'en tirerai en proportion de leurs actions et aux termes
de l'acte de Société et des statuts approuvés par le gouvernement
Sarde.
*
*
*
*
Agréez, monsieur le Marquis, l'assurance de ma parfaite
considération.
C. W. SIEMENS.
96
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
Mr. Siemens kept his word as to following up the subject,
for in August, 1860, he took out a further patent for intro-
ducing the regenerative furnace and other novelties into the
engine; but, as he said a year or two later,* "Many
practical difficulties prevented a realization of the success
which theory and experiment appeared to promise." In
fact, notwithstanding all its theoretical merits, the regene-
rative engine was pronounced, even by its talented inventor,
a practical failure.
REGENERATIVE EVAPORATION.
Concurrently with his work upon the steam-engine, Mr.
Siemens continued his endeavour to press forward the
application of the regenerative principle to evaporation.
In 1852 and 1853 attempts were again made to interest
the Cheshire salt manufacturers in it, but without success,
and at one time Messrs. Fox and Henderson seriously
contemplated establishing salt-works on their own account
at Gloucester.
The experiments on the apparatus manufactured in
Berlin were still continued at much expense, but without
any satisfactory result. Werner said (6 April, 1853):—
The evaporator gives us headache. Our improvements only
make the result worse. I will try again to-morrow, but do not
hope for success.
A week later he recorded his failure, and offered to
transfer the whole affair to another firm who were specially
interested in salt and sugar works. These persons, how-
ever, declined to proceed in the matter without William's
personal aid, and so nothing further was done..
* Proceedings Inst. Mechanical Engineers, 1862, p. 22.
CHAP. V.] THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
97
In 1853 and 1854 Mr. Siemens entered into negotiations
with a mining company in Belfast, then newly established
to work a salt bed at Carrick Fergus, and induced them
to try the apparatus which had been made (as stated in
Chap. IV.) for the Salines at Lons-le-Saulnier in France.
The company hesitated a long time, in consequence of the
Cheshire judgment against the new plan; but at length
they agreed to work it for a year on trial, and to buy it if
found successful. It was erected there accordingly at the
latter end of 1855, but there is no record of its remain-
ing permanently in use.
In November, 1855, he applied for a further patent for
improvements in the process by substituting a permanent
gas for the vapour of the evaporated liquid; but this did
not go beyond provisional protection. The prospects of
the invention were not sufficiently encouraging to induce
Mr. Siemens to devote more attention to it, and at last the
regenerative evaporator, like the regenerative engine, died
away.
THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
The failure of these heat inventions must have been even
more disappointing to Mr. Siemens than those of an earlier
period, inasmuch as he had better prospects of success.
The regenerative principle was undoubtedly sound, and he
had devoted ten or twelve of the best years of his life to its
application, during which time he had the support of many
eminent engineers, the practical aid of two of the best
manufacturing firms in the country, and the funds of a
powerful commercial association. Neither theoretical know-
ledge, nor practical experience, nor ingenuity, nor skill,
nor money, nor perseverance, nor influence, was wanting.
H
98
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
But in spite of their promised advantages, the regenerative
steam-engine would not supplant the simple machine of
Watt, nor would the regenerative evaporator supersede
the old-fashioned sugar and salt pans.
It is hard now to explain these failures. Probably they
arose from the aims being too high, and from the intro-
duction of more complication than the nature of the
machines would bear.
In the steam-engine, for example, instead of the simple
plan of evaporating and re-condensing water, in which the
most ordinary mechanic could hardly go astray, there was
substituted the alternate heating to a very high tempera-
ture, and re-cooling, with the aid of the regenerator, of a
permanent elastic fluid, which introduced not only a more
elaborate construction, but new difficulties in the manage-
ment, in consequence of the more intense heat applied in
the working parts of the machine.
And with the regenerative evaporator the more com-
plex arrangements required larger outlay of capital, with
greater trouble in working, and sometimes endangered the
quality of the manufactured article.
These difficulties were courageously attacked by Mr.
Siemens's inventive ingenuity, and there is no doubt that
in many cases satisfactory results were attained by the
new machines; but on the whole the long and repeated
trials showed that the complications and difficulties intro-
duced were not commercially compensated for by the
advantages gained in the saving of fuel.
Such a heavy disappointment would have altogether
disheartened many men, but it only served to bring out
more prominently Mr. Siemens's strength of character.
He relied on the soundness of the theoretical principles he
had adopted as to the feasibility of heat saving, and simply
CHAP. V.] THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
99
turned his attention towards other possible modes of carry-
ing them into effect.
In this effort he found an able coadjutor in his brother
Frederick, who, as stated in the last chapter, had come
over to England in 1848, and had been working with him
during the whole of the experiments with the engine and
the evaporator.
During the year 1856, Frederick Siemens appears to
have conceived the happy idea that the regenerative
principle, which William had been so earnestly striving to
carry into effect by complex arrangements of engines and
evaporators, might be made available in a much more
simple manner by applying it directly to the ordinary
furnaces in which the fuel was consumed.
It is often found, in tracing out the history of an inven-
tion, that the simplest form is the latest in presenting itself
to the inventor, and this case furnishes a striking instance
of the fact.
The new improvement was indeed, in principle, of extreme
simplicity. It was well known that, in the working of
powerful furnaces, the smoke and gases resulting from the
combustion passed away into the atmosphere at a very
high heat, while the air supplying the fire was drawn in at
the ordinary atmospheric temperature. All therefore that
the inventor here proposed to do, was to apply the regene-
rative principle by means of a "respirator," so arranged
as to intercept and absorb the superfluous heat from the
escaping gases, and to give it out again in heating the air
used to feed the fire. In this way not only would waste
be prevented, but the intensity of action of the furnace
might be much increased.
The brothers studied the matter together, and William
gave his powerful aid to the perfecting of the arrangements
for carrying the invention into practice; but as the idea
H 2
100 EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
was Frederick's, it was necessary that the patent should be
taken out in his name, and it was accordingly granted to
"Frederick Siemens, of 7, John Street, Adelphi, London,
Engineer," on the 2nd of December, 1856. William was
always pleased to explain that the original merit of the
invention belonged to his brother.
The title of the patent was, for an "Improved arrange-
ment of furnaces; which improvements are applicable in
all cases where great heat is required." The chief object
of this invention, namely, the application of the respirator,
or regenerative" principle, was described in the first
claim, for-
((
Constructing furnaces in such manner that the heat of the pro-
ducts of combustion is absorbed by passing the same through
chambers containing refractory materials so arranged as to present
extensive heat-absorbing surfaces; and is communicated to cur-
rents of air or other gases by passing the latter currents alternately
over the same heated surfaces.
The principle was illustrated by a drawing of a heating-
furnace. The products of combustion, after leaving the
furnace, were passed through a "regenerative" chamber,
containing fire-brick surfaces so disposed as to allow the
current to pass freely amongst them, after which the
currents, having parted with a large portion of their heat
to the fire-bricks, passed away to the chimney. When the
regenerator had become thoroughly heated, the fire-current
was diverted from it, and passed into a similar one on the
opposite side; and at the same time the atmospheric air
intended to feed the fire was turned into the heated
regenerator, passing through it in a reverse direction. By
this means the cold air or gases were first brought into
contact with the less heated material nearest the chimney,
and subsequently with the more heated portions, until they
CHAP. V.] THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
ΙΟΙ
finally passed over that portion of the surface which was
nearest to the place of combustion, and which consequently
became heated to the highest degree. The result of this
arrangement was that the air, before it reached the fire,
became heated nearly to the temperature of the fire itself,
thus producing not only great saving of fuel, but almost
unlimited power.
While the air was thus entering the furnace through
regenerator No. 1, the heated current passing away from
the fire was heating regenerator No. 2; and when the
former was sufficiently cooled, and the latter sufficiently
heated, the two currents were reversed, by a simple damper
apparatus, and so the alternation was effected from time to
time as required.
The patent showed a variety of furnace for using car-
buretted hydrogen, or other inflammable gas, instead of
solid fuel; and also other variations in the applications of
the principle.
The invention was described by William in a Paper read
by him before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers,
on the 24th June, 1857; and as this was his first public
announcement of an apparatus which afterwards turned out
of such great importance, the following extracts may be
interesting :-
The high importance of the stores of combustible material which
are distributed upon the surface of the earth, renders their wasteful
expenditure and rapid diminution in quantity in many parts a
serious subject for consideration; and in the writer's opinion,
there is no object more worthy of the earnest attention of engi-
neers and men of science generally, than that of causing the
generation and application of heat to be conducted on scientific
and economical principles. Our knowledge of the nature of heat
has been greatly advanced of late years. . . . If we investigate the
operations of melting and heating metals—and indeed any opera-
tion where intense heat is required-we find that a large pro.
I02 EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
portion of heat is lost, amounting in some cases to more than 90
per cent. of the total heat produced.
Impressed by these views, the writer has for many years devoted
much attention to carrying out some conceptions of his own for
obtaining the proper equivalent of effect from heat; some of the
results he has obtained are known to the members of this Insti-
tution. The regenerative principle appears to be of very great
importance, and capable of almost universal application, and the
object of the present Paper is to describe an application of this
principle to furnaces of every description.
The invention of the regenerative furnace is due to the writer's
brother, Mr. Frederick Siemens, and it has been matured and
variously applied by the writer within the last few months. The
result has in all cases been a large saving, amounting to from 70
to 80 per cent. of the total quantity of fuel hitherto consumed.
The apparatus employed is, moreover, of a very simple and
permanent description, and combines economy of fuel with other
advantages, amongst which are the total prevention of smoke, and
a general improvement in the quality of the work produced.
The first experiments were carried out by the two
brothers with a furnace they built for the purpose in
Scotland Yard; but furnaces on a full practical scale were
erected and worked under the management of Frederick
Siemens, in the beginning of 1857, at the steel works of
Messrs. Marriott and Atkinson, Sheffield, to be applied to
the melting and re-heating of steel; and at Messrs. Lloyd,
Fosters, and Co.'s works at Wednesbury, in Staffordshire,
for the re-heating of iron.
These were successful, the saving of fuel being very large,
much greater than was expected; but many formidable
difficulties had to be overcome, in particular the providing
of materials sufficiently refractory to withstand the more
intense heat produced. Experiments, therefore, were carried
on, principally in Sheffield and Staffordshire, for some
-years, during which, in May, 1857, William took out a
•
CHAP. V.] THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
103
patent in his own name for practical details required to
render the furnace applicable to certain special purposes.
These experiments were in progress at the time of the
final collapse of the engine and evaporator, and the pro-
mise of their success no doubt tempered the blow, which
otherwise would have fallen so heavily upon him.
In the mean time an important and very successful
application of the furnace had been made to the heating
of the air for hot-blast iron smelting furnaces.
This was suggested by Mr. E. A. Cowper, and was
patented by him in 1857. The regenerator had to be made
to work under considerable pressure of air; and to fit it
for this purpose, it was enclosed in a fire-brick lining, which
was placed inside a wrought-iron air-tight casing, capable
of resisting the pressure of the blast, while the brick lining
resisted the heat.
Mr. Siemens fully appreciated the arrangement, which
he called "one of the most interesting applications of his
furnace;" he gave Mr. Cowper all possible assistance, and
his name appeared in one of several later patents, taken
out for its improvement. It was largely applied in almost
all iron-making countries, and its advantages were thus
summed up by Mr. Siemens :-
No wear and tear of pipes.
No leakage (which in the ordinary stoves amounts to 20 per
cent.).
Increased make of iron from the same furnace and the same
amount of blast used.
Large saving of fuel used to heat the air.
Still larger saving of fuel in the furnace itself, owing to the
increased temperature of the blast, which is commonly raised to
1500°.
These savings over the whole iron manufacture of the
104 EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
world are said now to amount to about half a million
sterling per annum !
REFRIGERATION.
As an instance of how thoroughly Mr. Siemens had
studied the theory of heat, it may be mentioned that he did
not neglect what may be called its negative phase, namely,
the operation of cooling or refrigerating.
He appears to have discussed this matter with his
brother Werner as early as 1852; and some experiments
were made with the aid of Frederick, but nothing was
practically done till 1855, when he took out a patent
(30th October, No. 1,105) for "Improvements in cooling
and freezing water and other bodies."
It was based on the decrease of temperature in the dis-
solving of certain chemical salts. Water was caused to
percolate through a mass of crystalline chloride of calcium,
and as the solution became reduced in temperature, it was
used to cool other bodies, such as bottles of water, and so
on, by circulating round them. The patent showed an
ingeniously-contrived machine for the purpose, and the
details of the process were further improved by another
patent on the 13th September, 1858. On the 29th July,
1857, he had applied for a patent for cooling by the
expansion of air (since so much used), but it was not
proceeded with.
In 1857 he had one of the machines constructed at his
workshop in Millbank Street, Westminster, and the process
was adopted with some success on the steamers of the
Peninsular and Oriental Company. Some machines were
also made for breweries; but the invention did not come
into extended use.
CHAP. V.]
105
THE WATER-METER.
THE WATER-METER.
The first real and unequivocal success that Mr. Siemens
achieved after he had taken up his residence in England
was an invention that he brought out in 1851, namely, a
new kind of meter for measuring water.
About the middle of this century a great sanitary move-
ment took place, and as a consequence attention was
prominently directed to the water-supply of towns. Public
inquiries were set on foot, and legislative measures were
enacted for improvements in the supply. Dissatisfaction
was expressed with the mode of distributing water into
houses, particularly as to the great waste that was found to
occur, and, acting on the analogy of gas distribution, a
desire was expressed that water should be supplied by
meter.
But although many attempts had been made to devise a
machine which should register the quantity of water
delivered, no such machine had been constructed in which
the selling and buying parties could place confidence.*
Mr. Siemens saw the want, and appreciating the advantages
which a successful water-meter would offer, both to the
public and to the inventor, he determined to tax his
ingenuity to solve the problem.
As early as 1845 he had imagined an ingenious con-
trivance which, by the aid of clockwork, should register the
flow in a given time through a weighted valve, but the
necessity for winding up the clock made this too trouble-
some for general use. He then proposed to do the wind-
ing by a screw-propeller turned by the water-current;
* See Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. xvi.,
page 60.
IC6
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
but as soon as he began to develop this idea it flashed on
his mind that if the screw could be made to rotate, as was
highly probable, with a velocity proportionate to that of
the water-current, all the complications of the loaded valve
and clockwork might be dispensed with, and the screw
itself might be made to serve as the meter, without any
other paraphernalia, except the ordinary means of recording
the revolutions.
Thus arose the idea of a meter to be formed by placing
an endless screw, or system of helical vanes, suspended on
two points in the axis of a moving cylindrical column of
water.
The inventor, however, saw that there would be many
practical difficulties in getting such an apparatus to be
trustworthy, and the execution of it was delayed some
years.
At the beginning of 1848 he asked his friend Mr. Woods
what he thought of the idea of a "revolving meter pump,"
and the reply was favourable. Still, however, nothing
practical was done till 1851, when after many trials, with
the aid of his brother, at the Berlin manufactory, he
succeeded in producing a model that gave promising
results.
Armed with this, he made application, through a Mr.
Schwabe, a friend in Manchester, to the Corporation of
that city, who appointed a committee of inquiry to examine
the invention, the result being that they ordered six meters
on the new plan, to be tried for two months, and then to
be paid for if they worked satisfactorily.
He had obtained an advance of £250 from Mr. Schwabe
to enable him to try experiments, and he put the work
into the hands of a firm of high reputation for the manu-
facture of water fittings, Messrs. Guest and Chrimes of
CHAP. V.]
107
THE WATER-METER.
Rotherham, who took from Mr. Siemens a formal licence
to make and supply the meters in case the invention
should succeed.
The meters for Manchester were completed in the spring
of 1852, and worked so well as to justify Mr. Siemens
in lodging a patent for a "Fluid Meter," which was dated.
the 15th of April in that year. This simply carried out in
various modifications the principle before named, the inven-
tion being stated to consist in-
Various arrangements of screws or helices, which are caused
to revolve by the passage of water or other fluid through them,
and of fixed guides and channels in connection with such screws
or helices to regulate and direct the current of the fluid, together
with various contrivances for registering the number of revolutions
of the screws.
The patent contained also an application of the same
principle to forming a screw log for measuring the speed of
a ship through the water—a contrivance since much used.
But though the principle was simple, its suitable appli-
cation in a practical form needed great ingenuity, and its
inventor had to bestow much study upon it before the
most effective and trustworthy arrangement could be de-
vised. The experiments and trials for this purpose were
partly carried on in the Berlin factory, and partly by Guest
and Chrimes. They occupied some time, and led to a
second patent for improvements dated the 23rd March,
1853. This was taken out in conjunction with a Mr. Joseph
Adamson, an engineer of Leeds, who had about the same
time directed his attention to water-meters, and had
already brought out some inventions in regard thereto.
Mr. Siemens had examined these, and an arrangement
was made that the new improvement should be protected
in their joint names.
108 EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
This patent for "Improvements in Rotatory Fluid-
Meters" introduced a plan considerably differing from
the former one, being an application of the principle of re-
action, previously used for hydraulic purposes in “Barker's
Mill" and the "Turbine," both which forms were included
in the patent, as well as one resembling an ordinary under-
shot water-wheel. The Barker's mill form proved ulti-
mately to be the most useful for general practical purposes,
and was almost exclusively the one sold. Its construction
is shewn on the Plate, which has been kindly furnished for
this work by Messrs. Guest and Chrimes.
The simplicity and efficiency of this contrivance caused
it to be soon appreciated. As early as August, 1852,
above a hundred meters had been ordered, and the sale
increased fast. It was not only adopted extensively in
many towns in England, but it also excited much attention
on the Continent and in America.
1
In January, 1854, Mr. Siemens read a Paper, on water-
meters generally, before the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, and this was followed by a later one on the 30th
July, 1856, when he described the improved construction of
meter definitely adopted. On December 2nd of the same
year the subject was also discussed at the Institution of
Civil Engineers,* when Mr. Siemens made some remarks
explanatory of his own invention, stating that he had been
the first to bring into use a meter which would work with
a high water-pressure. Meters of various kinds were
discussed at considerable length, and that designed by
Mr. Siemens was spoken favourably of by several eminent
waterworks engineers.
Some further patents were taken out by Mr. Siemens
* Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. xvi., p. 46.

b
H
ao
PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF DRUM.
THE WATER METER.
W
SECTION OF METER.
PATENT
SIEMENS'
001
200
300
MANUFACTURED
000
ob
100 000
GALLONS
0
Q
09
400
C
00
500
BY GUEST &
ob
No 1000
000
700
800
ROTHERHAM.
600
CHRIMES
[Page 108.
PLAN OF METER.
M
CHAP. V.]
[09
THE WATER-METER.
in November, 1856, in December, 1860, and in March,
1867; but the constructions previously arrived at appear
to have satisfied all the requirements of the public.
The prompt success of this invention was a most
fortunate thing for Mr. Siemens, for in 1853, although
the patent was only a year old, it was beginning to bring
him in a handsome income, and so relieved him from the
pecuniary anxieties he had suffered, more or less, ever
since he had come to England. The demand and sale
continued to increase, and the royalties received by Mr.
Siemens for the sale in Great Britain alone amounted for
many years to above £1000 a year; in addition to which
there was a considerable income from meters made on the
Continent, the invention being protected there also.
The following excellent remarks on the scientific merits
of the invention are taken from a notice written by Sir
William Thomson for the Royal Society:
The Water-meter exactly met an important practical requirement,
and has had a splendid thirty years' success. It applied curiously
subtle hydraulic principles, which, even irrespectively of the
practical value of the instrument, are of great interest. Imagine a
Barker's mill running absolutely unresisted. The discharged
water must have approximately zero absolute velocity on
leaving the nozzles; in other words, its velocity relatively to the
nozzles must be approximately equal to the contrary absolute
velocity of the nozzles. Hence the machine will rotate in simple
proportion to the quantity of water passing through it. By an
extension of similar considerations, it is easy to prove that if the
wheel, instead of being unresisted, is resisted by a force exactly
proportioned to the square of its angular velocity, its velocity
must still be proportional to the quantity of water passing through
per unit of time. Thus, provided this law of resistance is main-
tained, the whole angle turned through by the wheel measures the
whole quantity of water that has passed. Now think of the diffi-
culties which Siemens had to overcome to apply this principle.
IIO
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
What has been roughly called a Barker's mill must be completely
inclosed in the supply water-pipes, its nozzles discharging into
water, not into air. It must be of very small dimensions to be
convenient for practice, and its bearings must be kept oiled to
secure not only that it may not be injured by the wear of running
for years, but also that the constant frictional force of solid
rubbing on solid may be as nothing compared to the resistance,
proportional to the square of the velocity, exerted by the circum-
ambient liquid upon a wheel with sharp-edged vanes rotating in it.
After a few years of trials, difficulty after difficulty was overcome,
and the instrument did its work with the accuracy and conve-
nience which met practical requirements.
It was, we believe, the protection offered by the British Patent
Law which, in the case of this very instrument, allowed Siemens
to work it out in England, and so helped him eventually to find
his home among us, and to give us primarily the benefit of his
great inventiveness in all directions; while the want of similar pro-
tection under German law at that time rendered it practically
impossible for him to work out so difficult an invention in his own
country.
In a practical point of view the Siemens water-meter has
been one of the most useful and valuable machines ever
brought into hydraulic engineering; nothing has been dis-
covered superior to it for the special objects it is intended
to serve, and no material improvement has been made in it
since it received its final form under the patent of 1853. It
is still largely used. Down to the end of 1885, nearly
130,000 meters had been sold by Messrs. Guest and Chrimes
alone, and in many cases it has been established as the
standard apparatus for the sale of water.
SMALLER INVENTIONS.
The Chronometric Governor.-Although difficulties and
failures had often occurred in applying this invention, yet
Mr. Siemens seems to have had encouragement enough to
CHAP. V.]
III
LEAD PIPES.
>
persevere in regard to it; it continued to be used to some
extent, and formal licences appear to have been granted
to several firms in various parts of England for supplying
the governor, Messrs. Hick of Bolton taking the principal
management of the business.
In 1853, in order to bring the merits of the invention
more prominently before the world, he presented a Paper
to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, which was read
at the meeting in Birmingham on the 27th of July of that
year.
It continued to be tried to some extent; but although
the beauty and ingenuity of the invention were unquestion-
able, it was of greater sensitiveness than was required in
ordinary steam machinery, and it did not come into general
use. It was, however, applied with success to more delicate
purposes; for example, to regulate the motions of chrono-
metric instruments in the Observatory of Greenwich. The
late Astronomer-Royal, Sir G. B. Airy, originated this
application, with Mr. Siemens's concurrence, and it has
remained in use to the present time.
The subject of uniform motion had a great attraction for
Mr. Siemens, and he returned to it at a later period.
Manufacture of Lead Pipes.-On 29 March, 1859, he
exhibited, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, a machine
of his own invention for joining lead pipes, by pressure
only between the surfaces of metal, instead of soldering.
He and Werner had given much attention to the use of
lead pipes, as a covering protection to underground electric
cables; and this improvement had arisen in the course of
their experiments.
II 2 EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V
ELECTRICAL WORK.
When Mr. Siemens commenced practice on his own
account in London, he was better able to carry on the
electric telegraph work which he had taken up shortly
before, and this work had the great advantage that it was
a source of income free from risk.
He now therefore exerted himself actively to push the
interests of the Berlin manufacturing firm, to introduce his
brother's inventions, and generally to further electrical
operations in this country.
On March 2, 1852, and at the two following meetings,
the subject of electric telegraphs was discussed at the
Institution of Civil Engineers, and Mr. Siemens contributed
to the discussion a long and detailed account of the tele-
graph in Germany. He stated that the arrangements of
the instruments and wires which had been adopted and
executed by his brother, to a large extent, in that country
and other parts of the continent, differed essentially from
other systems. He described, by the aid of specimens and
models, the German pointing and printing telegraphs, the
latter of which printed the messages given and received
in common type on slips of paper, thus giving a duplicate
record of the communications, legible by everybody, at
both ends of the line, and avoiding all possibility of error.
He further alluded to the peculiar system adopted of
laying the wires, and described the means used for dis-
covering and correcting defects in the insulation. This
was the first important communication Mr. Siemens made
to the Institution, of which he became afterwards so
distinguished a member.
In the same year he spent some time in Paris, endea-
vouring to establish an agency there, his negotiations
afterwards being continued by his brother Carl.
CHAP. V.]
v.] .
113
SUBMARINE CABLES.
When in the autumn of 1853 he went to Berlin for the
benefit of his health, his communications with the firm.
there led to a change in his relations with them. Hitherto
he had been simply an agent, but it was now arranged
that he should become a partner, and that the English
work should be elevated to the character of a distinct
branch of the electrical business, under his personal
management. We find him accordingly undertaking works
of considerable magnitude, among which were, at various
times between 1853 and 1856, the furnishing of large sup-
plies of materials, instruments, and apparatus for the
Government telegraphs in India.
About this time a new description of telegraph work
sprang up, which, as it soon assumed great magnitude,
and formed indeed for some time the most important
electrical subject of Mr. Siemens's attention, it is desirable
here to mention somewhat fully. This was the establish-
ment of telegraph communication across the seas by means
of submarine cables.
The Siemens family were connected, more or less, with
this matter from the time of its introduction. When
electrical telegraphy was first designed, the conducting-
wires through which the motive agency passed were placed
in the air, supported on posts, with insulators attached.
The air, under ordinary circumstances, was also a non-
conductor, and this was the simplest means of effecting
the required insulation.
In 1846, however, the remarkable non-conducting pro-
perty of gutta-percha was discovered by Werner Siemens,
and having regard to its great plasticity and ease of mani-
pulation, he proposed to use it for covering telegraph wires,
in order to be enabled to lay them underground, which he
conceived would be a more secure system. In the spring
I
114
EARLIEST. INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
of 1847 he proposed this system to the Prussian Govern-
ment, and having completed successfully, in the autumn of
that year, the first experimental line of 20 miles long, his
plan was adopted, and in the years 1848 and 1849 about
3000 miles were so laid.
This system has since been most successfully applied.
It has not superseded overhead wires, but has divided the
telegraph world with them. Each system has its peculiar
advantages, and both are largely used.
It soon occurred to Werner Siemens that his method
of insulation would admit of the conducting-wires being
carried not only through damp ground, but actually
through water-an almost perfect conductor; and, to prove
the correctness and practicability of his idea, he, in March,
1848, submerged in the bay of Kiel several miles of copper
wire, coated with gutta-percha, to establish an electric
communication between the shore and several points in the
deep channel, where mines had been laid for warlike pur-
poses; and this was undoubtedly the first attempt ever
made to establish electric submarine communication.
About the same time also he carried successfully a sub-
merged telegraph-wire across the Rhine from Deutz to
Cologne.*
The idea was too valuable to be let sleep, and it was
clearly the province of England, in her insular position, to
take the earliest advantage of it. The question of forming
a telegraph communication between England and France
had been often mooted, and in 1847, Mr. Jacob Brett, an
eminent English telegraph engineer, had obtained a pro-
visional concession from the French Government for the
* These data were communicated by Mr. Wm. Siemens to the
Institution of Civil Engineers, in a discussion on submarine telegraphs,
13th January, 1857.
CHAP. V.]
115
SUBMARINE CABLES.
purpose; but the practicability of the project being
doubtful, the concession was allowed to lapse.
Werner Siemens's proceedings had now changed the
aspect of matters. In 1849 a successful experiment was
made off Dover by Mr. C. V. Walker, the electric engineer
of the South Eastern Railway, and, a second concession
being obtained, on the 25th August, 1850, a submarine
cable was actually laid across the strait from Dover to
Cape Grisnez. It consisted simply of a copper wire covered
with gutta-percha, but without any further protection; it
was about half an inch in diameter, and was loaded with
lead to keep it down. The communication was effectual,
and a few complimentary messages were transmitted
across; but on the following morning, when the French
official engineers arrived to test the communication, the
wire refused to act, the Government declined to believe it
had ever done so, and the concession was cancelled.
The mystery was afterwards explained. A diligent
French fisherman, plying his vocation off Cape Grisnez,
picked up the cable in his trawl and cut off a piece of it,
which he bore in triumph to Boulogne, exhibiting it there
as a specimen of a rare sea-weed with its centre filled with
gold! This curious accident gave an indication that
another condition beside the sufficient insulation was
necessary, namely, that the cable must be protected-a
condition which ever afterwards was deemed of supreme
importance, and received great study.
But, for the time, the difficulty produced great disappoint-
ment and discouragement to the enterprise; a third conces-
sion was obtained in 1851, and the "Submarine Telegraph
Company" was formed, but the scheme was viewed unfa-
vourably by several engineers in England, and all the
French engineers declared it to be impossible. Contractors
noted for their enterprise and liberality refused to under-
I 2
116
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
take it, and the public, when applied to for funds through
an excellent direction, liberally subscribed to the extent
of £300.
At length, when the concession had only seven weeks to
run, an engineer and contractor, the late Mr. Thomas
Crampton, who had been much engaged in the formation
of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, and who was
deeply interested as a shareholder in the Submarine Com-
pany, came forward. He professed perfect confidence in
the feasibility of the scheme, and volunteered, not only to
execute the work, but to provide half the necessary capital.
His offer was accepted; in seven weeks the means and
manner of carrying out an undertaking such as had never
been known before, were devised; the form of cable suit-
able to all the requirements of the case was designed; the
machinery for its manufacture was invented and made; the
cable itself was spun; and on the 25th September, 1851,
it was laid across the Channel with perfect success. It
was 24 miles long, consisting of four copper wires, insulated
by gutta-percha, covered with tarred yarn, and protected
by an outer covering of galvanized iron wires. It has
remained perfect to the present time, and still forms one of
the communications between the two countries.
After submarine telegraphy had thus become an accom-
plished fact, it naturally extended in all directions. In
1853 a cable 60 miles long was laid between Dover and
Ostend; and another 115 miles long, between Orfordness,
in Suffolk, and Scheveningen, in Holland; and, England
having led the way, the example was speedily followed by
foreign governments. Skilful engineers took up the subject,
and subaqueous telegraphs began to multiply in all parts
of the world.
It was impossible that, among the engineers engaged in
CHAP. V.]
117
SUBMARINE CABLES.
this new branch of electrical practice, the Siemens family
should keep in the background, and the manner of their
active introduction into it was as follows.
The firm of R. S. Newall & Co. of Gateshead-on-Tyne,
large wire-rope makers, seeing the great demand arising,
had laid out works for the construction of submarine cables
on an extensive scale. They saw also that the design, con-
struction, and laying of submarine cables, were opening
out very difficult questions, both of electrical science and
engineering practice; and they wisely determined to
secure the aid of persons specially skilled in these
subjects. Their choice could not have fallen on better
coadjutors than the Messrs. Siemens. They therefore
formally engaged the firm of Siemens and Halske to act
as electrical and consulting engineers for them in the
matter of submarine cables.
In this capacity Messrs. Siemens, during 1858 and 1859,
carried out the electrical tests, and assisted at the laying of
many of the earlier cables, among which may be mentioned
those-
From Bona, in Algeria, to Cagliari, in Sardinia, for the
French Government;
From Cagliari to Malta and Corfu for the Mediterranean
Extension Company ;
From the Dardanelles to Scio and Candia, for the
Levant Company;
From Syra to Scio, for the Greek Government;
From Singapore to Batavia, for the Dutch Government;
From Weymouth to the Channel Islands;
From Suez to Suakim and Aden, and from Aden to
Kurrachee, for the Red Sea and India Telegraph Com-
pany.
When the Red Sea cable was laid, Werner Siemens
118
EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
went out specially to aid in the operation, and in returning
home he was one of the sufferers in the memorable ship-
wreck of the Peninsular and Oriental steam-ship Alma.
This vessel left Aden for Suez at 6 A.M. on the 11th
June, 1859, having about 400 persons on board, among
whom were several gentlemen who had been engaged in
laying the telegraph, including Mr. Newall, his partner,
Professor Lewis Gordon, Mr. Lionel Gisborne, the chief
engineer of the Telegraph, and Mr. Werner Siemens. In
the middle of the following night the vessel struck on a
coral reef in the Red Sea, part of which was above water.
The passengers and crew were landed hastily on the reef,
and after enduring great sufferings and privations for three
days, were rescued, without any loss of life, by H.M.S.
Cyclops. A full account of the disaster was given in the
Times of the 7th July, 1859. It may be well imagined
what intense anxiety was suffered by the families until the
safety of their relatives was ascertained.
William Siemens took an important part in the work
for Messrs. Newall, and was responsible for the electrical
testings, though he did not, in any cases, attend the laying.
He also now began to apply his own inventive powers to
electrical work, and we find patents taken out by him
in 1854, 1856, 1858, and 1859, for improvements of various
kinds in telegraph detail, either his own or communicated
by his brother Werner.
For some years after the institution of the London
branch of Messrs. Siemens and Halske's firm, the apparatus
used in the telegraphs was either made in Berlin or
procured from manufacturers in England. But as the
orders began to extend considerably, the question arose
whether it would not be advantageous to set up a special
CHAP. V.]
119
FACTORY IN ENGLAND.
workshop in London, according to the idea expressed by
Werner Siemens some years before.*
On the 28th October, 1856, William Siemens, in writing
to Dr. O'Shaughnessy, the East Indian Government Agent,
said :-
It is fully my intention, being a resident in this country for
many years, to put up an establishment for the manufacture of
telegraph materials in this country, as soon as there will be a
sufficient demand for them.
And in the following July he made, writing to another
party, a similar statement.
In the next year, 1858, he took steps to carry out this
idea. He found some premises at No. 12, Millbank Row,
Westminster (near the site of the present Lambeth Bridge),
which he thought would be suitable, and, with the co-
operation of the Berlin firm, he had them fitted up with
the necessary tools and provisions. A skilled and expe-
rienced assistant from the Berlin Works, Mr. Mittelhausen,
was sent over in October, 1858, to aid him in the laying
out and management of the place, and it was ready for
work by the end of the year.
This little factory was capable of employing some 80 to
100 workmen; and it was used principally for the manu-
facture of the smaller descriptions of telegraph work, such
as instruments, batteries, insulators, and so on.
But it had also another object to which Mr. Siemens
attached much importance, namely, to provide him with a
convenient locality for carrying on experiments connected
with the new inventions and improvements which his
prolific genius still prompted him to contrive. He had
been obliged hitherto to make use, for this purpose, of con-
*
See page 84.
120 EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. v.
veniences afforded by other manufacturers; but it was far
more advantageous to have a place where he could effect
his trials in security against prying curiosity, and under his
own personal supervision.
In these premises were elaborated the details of many
electrical novelties, of furnace arrangements, of the refrige-
rating machines, the pyrometer, the resistance measurer,
the bathometer, and of many other novelties, which went
successfully before the world; and here were strangled in
their birth any unfortunate offspring of Mr. Siemens's
brain which had not the power of competing in the struggle
for existence.
The Millbank workshop continued in use till 1866, when
it became merged in the larger establishment that will be
spoken of in the next chapter.
}
DOMESTIC LIFE.
Something should now be said on Mr. Siemens's private
and domestic life during this period.
In the first years of his residence in England he had no
settled home. While in London, fighting with the early
troubles of his patents, he lived in modest lodgings, giving
his business address at the offices of his friend Mr. Woods,
in Barge Yard, Bucklersbury.
Then came his roving occupations in the provinces, and his
engagement with Messrs. Fox and Henderson, after which,
on settling in London, in 1852, he made arrangements
to board, conveniently near his office, at No. 7, Adelphi
Terrace. Here he entered the family of Mr. William
Hawes, a well-known professor of music, one of the vicars
choral and master of the boys at St. Paul's Cathedral,
and the father of the celebrated contralto singer Maria
B. Hawes. During his residence with that family he
CHAP. V.].
121
DOMESTIC LIFE.
had, in 1853, a very severe illness (typhus fever), and
was most kindly nursed by the members of it, as also by
his friend, Luigi Scalia, who was as a brother to him. He
never ceased to remember with gratitude the kind treat-
ment he received at that time.
He remained with Mrs. Hawes till 1854 or 1855, when,
his prospects beginning to look brighter, he rented a house.
on his own account in Kensington Crescent, taking his
brothers, Frederick and Otto, to reside with him. Here
he lived till his marriage. His love for the country and
pure air determined his homes-which were always, if
possible, within the sight of green trees.
He was now able to make himself more known in
general society, and to receive friends in an unassuming
way, having, in the midst of his manifold and anxious
work, always time for kind thoughtfulness of others.
Hospitality was indeed then, as in all his subsequent life,
a part of his nature.
The friends he chose were usually men of capability, and
having an aim in life. He was well acquainted with many
of the eminent foreigners who sought refuge in this country
after the political convulsions of 1848. Among them were
Semper, the renowned architect, Richard Wagner, Bucher
(with whom he was intimate, although not agreeing with
his political views), Kinkel, whose son he at a later period
took into his employment, and the brothers Luigi and
Alfonso Scalia, with whom he formed a true friendship that
never flagged, even after the brothers left for Italy to join
the ranks of Garibaldi.
He visited at the houses of many friends, where he occa-
sionally met men eminent in literature, art, or science, and
in this way he became personally intimate with many of
the leading men among his professional brethren.
122 EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
With their encouragement and support he now formally
enrolled himself among them by joining the Institution of
Civil Engineers. He had, indeed, applied much earlier,
in 1846, but could not then be received, being under the
required age of twenty-five. His election to the grade of
Associate came off on the 4th April (his birthday), 1854.
He was described as having been "for the last three years
in business on his own account, occupied in the establishing
of extensive lines of submarine and other telegraphs on
the Continent, and in other works." He was proposed by
Sir Charles Fox, and seconded by many distinguished
men in the profession.
Among the engineers with whom he formed acquaint-
ance was Mr. Lewis D. B. Gordon, the son of Joseph
Gordon, Esq., W.S. of Edinburgh. This young man had
been educated as a civil engineer, and had so distinguished
himself in science, that at the early age of twenty-four he
had been appointed to the important post of Professor of
Engineering in the University of Glasgow. He was also
practising his profession in London, and it happened that,
like Mr. Siemens, he was much engaged in electrical
pursuits. The similarity of occupations and scientific
tastes led to a close friendship between these two young
men, which was further encouraged by Mr. Gordon's
having married a Hanoverian lady, in some measure
connected with Mr. Siemens, her sister being the wife
of his cousin Herr Oberamtsrichter Gustav Siemens of
Hanover.
As early as the year 1851 negotiations had been going
on for a permanent association between Mr. Siemens and
Professor Gordon in a large and important electrical under-
taking; and although this did not come about, they were
frequently coming in contact, in business matters, through
CHAP. V.]
123
NATURALIZATION IN ENGLAND.
Mr. Siemens's transactions with the firm of Newall and Co.,
in which Professor Gordon was a partner.
A personal friendship was thus formed which led to an
intimacy between Mr. Siemens and the other members of
the Gordon family, and this ultimately ripened into an
attachment between him and Miss Anne Gordon, the
youngest sister of the Professor.
He now determined to naturalise himself in this country,
where henceforth all his interests would be centred;
and on the 19th March, 1859, as he used amusingly
to say, he took oath and allegiance to two ladies in one
day—the Queen, and his chosen partner in life.
Two extracts from letters written during his engagement
may be given. Miss Gordon was an educated singer (a
pupil of Manuel Garcia), and had been suffering from a
cold. He said-
Your letter has indeed been a heart's pleasure to me, telling me
as it does that your health, and even your voice, is fast coming
back; for after all, the singing canary is preferable to the moulting
one, however much one may prize the bird for its other qualities.
Again, after she had expressed an interest in the re-
generative engine, he wrote—
How happy I am that you feel an interest in my engine as well
as in myself. My inventions are the children of my thoughts,
whose education has yet to be completed, and you will be a kind
stepmother to them, will you not?
The marriage was delayed some time in consequence.
of the shipwreck of Werner Siemens and Professor
Gordon in the Red Sea, but, on their safe return, it took
place at St. James's, Paddington, on the 23rd July, 1859.
The couple at once set off for Germany, that the family
124 EARLIEST INDEPENDENT PRACTICE. [CHAP. V.
might become acquainted with the English member who
had entered into it.
The marriage was a thoroughly happy one. Everyone
who had afterwards the privilege of introduction into his
house well knew what a "helpmeet" he found in the wife
of his choice, and how his labours were lightened by the
cheerful home she made for him.
They took a pleasant little villa near Twickenham,
where they lived between three and four years.
The following extracts from some of the congratulatory
letters he received, will show how this important step in
his life was viewed by his own family.
From his Brother WERner.
VIENNA, 24th March, 1859.
As I was just packing up I received your great, long-expected,
news! Receive my most heartfelt congratulation. May every
joy and blessing spring from your anticipated marriage! Give
also to your dear fiancée, whom I joyfully welcome as my future
sister-in-law, my fraternal greeting. Anne Gordon has always
appeared and been described to us as so liebenswürdig, klug und
brav, we can only congratulate you on having won her.
I hope
in the summer to have the opportunity of knowing her better; so
settle definitively, and bring her, as your young wife, to your old
home! She will certainly have a hearty welcome!
From WERNER'S Wife.
BERLIN, 29th March, 1859.
You could not, dear William, have given us greater pleasure
than you did by your letter of yesterday. I must confess, that
ever since you thought fit to write about the beauty of the name
“Anna” in the middle, or rather at the head of a business letter,
and to make reflections about the fact that there was as yet no
CHAP. V.]
125
MARRIAGE.
"Anna Siemens,' "I have had a secret suspicion that there
existed a rival, in your mind, to your great regenerative engine.
You will now become acquainted with something better even
than fame and honour. Your labour will be doubly pleasant, as
you now possess a heart that will find its most complete joy in
what you do, create, and carry out. Our brother Otto jumped
for joy over das famose herrliche Mädel. I hope it will not be long
before you will present her to us as your dear wife; you may be
sure all your family will rejoice to welcome her.
me.
From his Brother OTTO.
I have long expected this news, and my instinct has not failed
Your hitherto joyless life will for the future, by the side of
such an amiable partner, become changed, and the crusty old
William will become the best tempered of husbands.
His eldest sister, Matilda, who had always taken such an
active and affectionate interest in his domestic affairs,
naturally wrote him a long and characteristic letter on the
auspicious occasion, but it has unfortunately been lost.
She, however, was most hearty in greeting her new sister-
in-law.
* Mr. Siemens evinced much pleasure that the first daughter
of his brother Werner was to be named Anna—.“ a name,” said he,
"that I love."
CHAPTER VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
Age 37 to 46.
1860 to 1869.
Mr. Siemens's Position and Prospects at the beginning of this Period―
Elected Fellow of the Royal Society-The Regenerative Furnace
-The Gas Producer-Lecture by Faraday-Success-Puddling
Furnaces-The Steel Manufacture-Messrs. Martin-The Bir-
mingham Sample Steel Works-Manufacture of Steel Rails-The
Landore Steel Works-Miscellaneous Inventions-The British
Association Electrical Work- The Charlton Factory - The
Algerian Cable-The Indo-European Telegraph-Cable in the
Black Sea-Domestic Life.
AFTER his marriage Mr. Siemens appears to have made
a new start in life, with increased vigour. His prospects
were certainly brighter than ever they had been before.
In the first place he had a highly successful invention,
the water-meter, in full work, which, without trouble to
him, was bringing him in a fair income. Secondly, in
regard to the heat applications, he had now thrown aside
the ineffective machines which had given him so much
anxiety and disappointment, exchanging them for the
Regenerative Furnace, the success and popularity of which
seemed almost certain. Then, thirdly, he had an excellent
position in his electrical work, which ensured him good
and certain remuneration, with every probability of future
increase, and a kind of occupation extremely congenial to
his tastes and abilities.
CHAP. VI.]
127
GENERAL POSITION.
He had therefore no longer any need to continue
the struggling endeavours to introduce novelties, and
to force untried inventions into notice, which had
occupied him for the last sixteen years, draining the
pecuniary resources of himself and his friends, and keeping
him in a constant state of worry and trouble. In writing
to a confidential friend he expressed this clearly.
said:-
He
A great change has come in me. Instead of persisting obsti-
nately in my desire to realize a certain idea at the evident sacrifice
of health and wealth, in order to throw it aside when it might
begin to bear fruit, I wish now to strive to pursue a more prudent.
course, caring a great deal more for the result, and less for the
thankless task of accomplishing mere novelties.
He accordingly came to the sensible resolution to
devote his attention mainly to that kind of work which
was likely to be profitable;—and not to jeopardise his
position and his comfort by striving after ingenious
new schemes.
He was not, however, debarred from exercising his
prolific inventive power. There were, as we shall see,
abundant ways in which this could be brought into play
consistently with his main designs. The change was, that
either his inventions formed part of his general work, or if
they were occasionally independent of it, they were such
as he could now afford to indulge in without fear.
One of his first steps was to consolidate his position
among his professional brethren. In 1854 he had been
elected an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers;
but he now aspired to be transferred to the rank of full
Member.
This was a matter not without difficulty, inasmuch as
Mr. Siemens was a contractor and manufacturer, and the
128
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
rules of the Institution excluded these classes from full
membership, except in cases where the candidate could
show very distinguished merit in the power and practice
of engineering design. This exception was admitted to
apply in Mr. Siemens's case. The recommendation for his
transfer was signed by ten of the most distinguished men
in the profession, and he was transferred to the grade of
full Member of the Institution on the 11th December, 1860.
His next care was to obtain a recognized standing in the
scientific world, and he found little difficulty in this. His
scientific work, while residing in London, had become so
well known that a number of influential friends recom-
mended him to the notice of the Council of the Royal
Society.
The following is a copy of the "Qualifications of the
Candidate,” as stated in the formal certificate of recom-
mendation to the Council:-
CHARLES WILLIAM SIEMENS, Esq., 3, Great George Street,
Westminster, Mem. Inst. C.E., Civil Engineer.
The discoverer of a Law regarding the expansion of steam by
heat, and certain properties of insulating materials.
The author of Treatises on "The Conversion of Heat into
Mechanical Effect;"-"On the Expansion of Steam by Heat;"
"On testing Submarine Cables," &c., with Papers and Lectures
on particular inventions ;-all published in full.
The inventor or improver of Chronometric Governor; Anastatic
Printing;-High-pressure Water-meter ;-Regenerative Steam or
Gas Engines;-Regenerative Gas Furnace :-a Bathometer; *—an
Electric Resistance Thermometer;*—and appliances used in the
manufacture of Submarine Cables.
Distinguished for his acquaintance with the applied sciences;
eminent as a Telegraph Engineer, having, in conjunction with his
brother, Dr. Werner Siemens, executed important works, and
* Described in Chap. VIJ.
CHAP. VI.]
129
ROYAL SOCIETY.
having also been employed by Her Majesty's Government as
their Electrical Engineer for the construction of the Malta and
Alexandria Telegraph.
The recommendation was signed by the following Fellows
of the Royal Society :-
JOHN HAWKSHAW; J. F. BATEMAN; T. GRAHAM; G. B. AIRY;
M. FARADAY; J. PERCY; A. W. WILLIAMSON; W. THOMSON;
R. FITZROY; C. WHEATSTONE; J. P. GASSIOTT; J. FIELD; G.
RENNIE; C. MANBY; T. WEBSTER; W. POLE; J. G. Appold;
J. P. JOULE.
He was selected by the Council as one of the fifteen
candidates to be recommended to the Society; he was
elected a Fellow on the 5th June, 1862, and was formally
introduced at the Society's meeting on the 19th June.
In 1859 he removed his office from John Street, Adelphi,
to No. 3, Great George Street, Westminster, in order to be
near the head-quarters of the engineering profession, and
here he transacted jointly his own business and that of
the telegraph firm.
During the period over which this chapter extends he
was almost exclusively engaged on the two great subjects,
which indeed occupied him more than anything else for
the remainder of his life;-namely, Heat and its Applica-
tions, particularly to Metallurgy; and Electrical Science
and Practice. He found time, however, to extend his
writings on scientific and technical subjects, in which
he afterwards showed great facility, and by which his
name became more known in the mechanical and scientific
world.
These occupations will now be described more in
detail.
K
130
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
In the last chapter an account was given of the inven-
tion of this furnace in 1856 by Frederick Siemens, and of
its successful introduction into use by the joint labours of
the two brothers.
Experiments were carried on for some years, with a
view to the perfecting of the apparatus, and its adaptation
to a variety of uses;-and during these, the Messrs.
Siemens saw clearly that a problem of great mag-
nitude was opening up before them, by the novel and
remarkable capabilities of the invention.
It was soon found that the adaptation of the new
regenerative apparatus to furnaces of ordinary kinds
would effect considerable saving of fuel; but this turned
out to be only a minor point of advantage. It gave a far
more important effect in the production of greatly increased
temperatures, and consequently much higher power.
The action of the respirator absorbed and utilized the
heat that formerly escaped into the air from the chimney;
-this was the cause of the saving of fuel. But it did
more. It brought the supply of air to the furnace, not at
atmospheric temperature as before, but strongly heated,
causing a most vivid combustion of the fuel; and when
the heat of this was added to the already highly-heated
entering air, a temperature was produced much beyond
what had been previously obtained by any heat-producing
apparatus on a large scale. It was clear, on this account,
that the new furnace would give a widely extended range
of effect in metallurgical operations and chemical processes
generally.
The experimental trials, therefore, were now largely
devoted to the testing of this new power, and to the
CHAP. VI.] THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
131
determination of how it might be most successfully and
advantageously applied. The result showed an enor-
mous capability of producing high temperatures; and
the great difficulty became how to provide such materials,
and to arrange such a construction of furnace, as should
in practical use withstand the great heat produced.
In fact most of the early failures consisted in the destruc-
tion of the furnace itself, or of its accessories, in the
attempts to apply the heat to the objects to be acted on.
In the course of these trials a modification suggested
itself to the two brothers, of such a character as to amount
to a most important new invention. It was found that
the use of solid fuel, in the body of the furnace, offered
obstacles to the favourable working of the system, and the
idea arose of substituting gaseous fuel, the solid fuel being
converted into combustible gases in a separate construction
called a "gas-producer."
This was patented 22nd January, 1861, in the names of
the two brothers jointly. The patent said :—
It is an essential part of our invention that the solid fuel should
be decomposed in a separate apparatus, so that the introduction of
solid fuel into the furnace may be altogether avoided; and inde-
pendently of the advantage that results from heating the gaseous
fuel prior to its entering into combustion, there is a great advantage
derived from the absence of any solid carbon or ashes in the
working chamber of the furnace, by which we are enabled to carry
on operations in the open furnace which it has only been possible
hitherto to conduct in covered vessels or pots.
The specification described various modifications of
furnaces having "gas-generators" of this kind.
The new invention was described by William Siemens
in a second Paper read to the Institution of Mechanical
K 2
132
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
Engineers on 30th January, 1862. After alluding to this
original form of the furnace, he said :-
In attempting, however, to apply the principle to puddling and
other larger furnaces, serious practical difficulties arose, which for
a considerable time frustrated all efforts; until by adopting the
plan of volatilizing the solid fuel in the first instance, and
employing it entirely in a gaseous form for heating purposes,
practical results were at length attained surpassing even the most
sanguine expectations previously formed.
The fuel employed, which may be of a very inferior description,
is separately converted into a crude gas, which being conducted
to the furnace has its naturally low heating power greatly
increased by being heated to nearly the high temperature of
the furnace itself, undergoing at the same time certain chemical
changes whereby the heat developed in its subsequent com-
bustion is increased. The heating effect is still further augmented
by the air necessary for combustion being also heated separately
to the same high temperature.
Elaborate and full descriptions of the improved furnace,
as applied to different purposes, were given in the paper.
This invention immensely improved the furnace, and
made it applicable to much more extended processes,
while its facility of management became much increased.
The condition also of using an inferior fuel became a
great advantage; for, in fact, combustible matters which
would be utterly useless in an ordinary furnace were
capable of being utilized without difficulty in the new
gas-producer saw-dust, peat, lignite, soft coal or coal
slack, might all be made available by simple modifications
of the apparatus, so that large resources of fuel hitherto
deemed waste material were brought into use and acquired
commercial value. It was also remarkable that a new and
unexpected source of fuel arose from the construction
of the grate, namely the decomposition of water which,
being kept underneath the bars, evaporated, and in passing
CHAP. VI.] THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
133
as vapour through the fire became decomposed and furnished
hydrogen in a combustible form.
Another peculiarly valuable property of the new arrange-
ment was the capability of exercising a large control over
the quality of the heating agent, as immediately applied to
the substance acted on. In the old form of furnace, the
flame and heated currents from the fuel contained im-
purities and foreign substances of many kinds which were
often prejudicial to the quality of the article produced. In
iron working, for example, the coal contained sulphur or
phosphorus or silicon, which could not be prevented from
damaging the material in the furnace; and in many
chemical processes of a more refined nature, the impurities.
in the solid fuel caused great inconveniences.
But with the new gas fire, many impurities were left
behind in the gas-producer, and the acting flame lost to a
large extent its noxious power. In the more delicate
chemical work, means were soon discovered of cleansing
the gas, and rendering it a simple pure heating agent, by
which the furnace operations were simplified and the
manufactured article was improved. This was
one of
the qualifications which brought the furnace into such
high repute for glass making.
An experimental Gas Furnace had been built by Frede-
rick Siemens at the works of Siemens and Halske in
Berlin; and when the details had been satisfactorily
arranged and the patent secured, others were constructed
for actual use. The first of these was erected in 1861 at
the flint glass works of Messrs. Lloyd and Summerfield,
at Birmingham, and in 1867 it was stated by Mr. Siemens
to be still at work, saving 50 per cent. of fuel. Another,
built soon afterwards for glass works at Mexborough, in
Yorkshire, worked equally well; and the success of the
134
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
invention became at once acknowledged in the glass
trade.*
Among the earliest users of the furnaces were the well-
known large glass manufacturers, Messrs. Chance, near
Birmingham, who had been induced to try them at the
recommendation of Mr. Cowper. The success
The success was so
prompt and marked that they gradually increased the
number to thirteen, in addition to a special one for optical
lighthouse lenses, a manufacture requiring great care and
perfection.
It happened that in March, 1862, Professor Faraday, who
was visiting Messrs. Chance's works on other business, saw
some of these furnaces at work, and he was induced to
make the following application to Mr. Siemens :—
MY DEAR SIR,—
ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN,
March 22, 1862.
I have just returned from Birmingham, and there saw at
Chance's works the application of your furnace to glass making.
I was very much struck with the whole matter.
As our managers want me to end the Friday evenings here,
after Easter, I have looked about for a thought; for I have none
in myself. I think I should like to speak of the effects I saw at
Chance's if you do not object. If you assent, can you help me
with any drawings or models or illustrations, either in the way of
thoughts or experiments?
* Mr. Cowper relates a curious incident illustrating the novelty of
the great heat-production of these furnaces. The manager of a large
glass works went to see one of them at work; but he would not
believe that such an intense temperature could possibly be produced
by such a small quantity of fuel as he saw burning, and with such a
quiet steady draft. He fancied that the heat had been surreptitiously
got up by more powerful means before he arrived. He expected it
would soon cool down, and he waited through all the following night
to see the diminution, and to expose the fraud. It was not till daylight
came, and found the furnace continuing the same action, that he
became convinced of the groundlessness of his suspicions,
CHAP. VI.] THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
135
Do not say much about it out of doors as yet, for my mind is
not settled in what way (if you assent) I shall present this subject.
Ever truly yours,
C. W. SIEMENS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
M. FARADAY.
Mr. Siemens was much pleased with this flattering offer.
He at once communicated with Faraday, and explained to
him fully the whole construction, action, and capabilities
of the invention. Faraday was even more interested in
these explanations than he had been in the sight of the
furnaces themselves, and they opened to him such new
views of the matter that he consented, at Mr. Siemens's
urgent request, to go again to Birmingham for the purpose
of making further observations with Mr. Siemens's aid.
He wrote again :-
MY DEAR SIR,—
ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN,
Wednesday, May 28, 1862.
The moment I got upstairs I found that I could not go
to Birmingham on Tuesday or Monday 10th or 9th. I am
engaged to receive an LL.D. Degree at Cambridge on the
occasion of the Installation of the Duke of Devonshire as the
Chancellor of the University, and whether the day will be
Monday or Tuesday is yet doubtful.
But if Wednesday the 11th will suit you, I will go on that
evening to Birmingham by the 6 P.M. train as we proposed.
C. W. SIEMENS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
Ever truly yours,
M. FARADAY.
They accordingly went together, and Mr. Siemens often
afterwards alluded to the two days spent with Faraday as
among the happiest of his life. It was not only a great
pleasure to him to have the opportunity of explaining his
apparatus to such an appreciative observer, but he was, as
136
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
he said, perfectly enchanted with Faraday's manner, and
struck with admiration of his character and attainments.
The lecture undertaken by Faraday was given at the
Royal Institution on the evening of the 20th June, 1862,
the Duke of Northumberland, K.G., in the chair. He
described the furnace with his usual lucidity, and the
lecture is remarkable as having been the last ever delivered
by that great philosopher. It is recorded in the Proceed-
ings of the Royal Institution, Vol. III., page 537.
The furnace was shown in the International Exhibition
of 1862, together with the water meter and with the gas
engine mentioned on page 154. A medal was awarded to
Mr. Siemens for these, the special grounds being stated as
the "Practical success of the furnace and water meter, and
the originality of the whole."
After this the Regenerative Gas Furnace became a great
and undoubted practical success, and soon received numerous
industrial applications. Before the end of 1862 about 100
of them were applied for various purposes in England and
on the Continent.
The early experiments had not been without trouble.
Many real difficulties were encountered before the best
construction and arrangements were arrived at; and even
when the furnaces came more into use, failure often occurred
when novel applications were made, or where unusual con-
ditions had to be fulfilled, or where the management was
unskilful or not in conformity with the inventor's direc-
tions. But these failures differed essentially from those
which Mr. Siemens had had to encounter with his previous
heat inventions, inasmuch as they were clearly seen to be
exceptional, and were altogether overborne by the general
success, which was clear and undeniable.
The saving of heat by the regenerative process rendered
CHAP. VI.] THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
137
itself obvious by the reduced temperature of the current
escaping into the atmosphere. With ordinary furnaces
this heat was often so great that volumes of flame
might be seen emitted at the top of the chimney. Indeed,
as a fierce heat had to be maintained for the work to be
done, there was no available means of preventing a large
portion of the gases so heated from passing away. But
with the regenerative furnace, although the heat inside
might be above 4,000° Fahr., it was found that the gases
escaping might be cooled down to between 200° and 300°,
only just in fact what was sufficient to create a draft in the
flues.
At the London and North Western shops at Crewe, an
ingenious plan was adopted of proving this. A piece of
freshly cut wood was enclosed in the chimney flue, and
kept there under lock and key for a certain number of
days, and if, on being examined, it was found to be burnt,
or even badly charred, the men who worked the furnace
were fined for want of care and waste of fuel.
The following extracts from some of Mr. Siemens's letters
will show the results obtained. Speaking of one of the
Glass Furnaces he said :—
The saving of fuel is very clearly demonstrated by the circum-
stance that an ordinary furnace of the same number of pots is
worked by the side of it. The old furnace consumes fourteen cart
loads of coal per week and the new furnace six. But the new
furnace is so much better that it brings out a charge of glass in
half the time.
This gives a saving of more than three-fourths of the fuel; but
an advantage of equal if not more importance is realised in the
new furnace by the superior quality of glass obtained from a given
mixture of materials.
In another case he wrote:
In general, where the furnaces work day and night, 50 per cent.
138
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
of fuel in weight is saved, and where expensive material, such as
coke, has been heretofore employed, much larger saving has been
effected by ordinary loose refuse coal (slack) being substituted.
Then as to the intensity of the heat obtained, Mr.
Siemens said:--
The greatest heat which can be produced by direct combustion
of coke and air is about 4,000° Fahr. But with my regenerative
furnace I should have no difficulty in going to 10,000°, in fact to
any degree the material composing the furnace can be made to
stand.
The furnace melts the steel in pots very well ; the only dif-
ficulty experienced consists in occasionally melting the pots
also !
The furnace was discussed at the 1865 meeting of the
British Association at Birmingham, on a paper by Mr.
S. H. F. Cox, one of Mr. Siemens's assistants, when
several eminent authorities, including Professor Miller (the
eminent chemist), Mr. Bessemer, and Sir William Arm-
strong, spoke strongly in its favour.
In 1867, at the Exposition Universelle at Paris, one of
the "Grands Prix" was awarded for the "Siemens Four à
Gaz, à Chaleur Regénérée," chiefly on account of the perfect
success of the furnaces in the leading glass works in
France.
As the advantages of the invention became more widely
known in the industrial world, the demand for the
furnaces went on constantly increasing year by year.
Mr. Siemens's own energy was severely taxed in devising
and arranging the various applications, a task involving
constant personal interviews and enormous correspon-
dence; and he had not only the aid of his brother Frederick,
but a large office staff of skilled draughtsmen, and a
CHAP. VI.] THE REGENERATIVE FURNACE.
139
travelling body of experienced assistants engaged in super-
intending the erections and testing the working of the
apparatus. In 1868, the demand had become so great
that the office could not keep pace with them. The appli-
cations had extended not only throughout the glass making
trade, in which the invention had formed a marked epoch,
but to various operations in iron and steel works, to the
heating of gas retorts, to smelting and reducing ores and
other metallurgical operations, to chemical manufactures,
and in fact to all industrial processes where heating was
required. All these had involved the construction of
hundreds of furnaces, many of quite novel design, and some
of unprecedented magnitude.
This success brought Mr. Siemens a considerable acces-
sion of income, for his share of the patent rights. The
charges made were very moderate, being usually stipulated
at one-eighth part of the saving effected; or sometimes £10
to £20 per annum for each furnace used. But as the
manufacturers began to realize the benefits of the invention,
they often commuted the payments into a lump sum.
On
the whole, the returns became very large, and increased
continually.
The results of experience during the quarter of a century
that has elapsed since the introduction of this invention,
have tended constantly to increase the estimation of its
value, and to extend its use to a greater variety of purposes.
Indeed, there is hardly an industrial process of any kind
where great heat is required, that has not benefited by the
application of the Siemens furnace, the advantages being
not only an enormous economy of fuel, and the production
of a much higher temperature, but also greatly increased
facility of application and management, more perfect.
combustion, and an entire absence of smoke,
140
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
In 1880, after nearly twenty years of continuous working
and extended application, Sir Henry Bessemer, who could
certainly speak with authority on the subject, described
the furnace as at once the most philosophic in principle,
the most powerful in action, and the most economical
of all the contrivances for producing heat by the com-
bustion of fuel.
Puddling Iron.
One of the purposes which Mr. Siemens had most
earnestly in view for the regenerative furnace, was its
application to the process of puddling, i.e., the formation of
malleable iron from the pig or cast iron produced by
smelting the ore. This object presented itself to him
almost immediately after the furnace was brought out.
In the middle of 1857 he had a furnace for this purpose.
erected at the iron and steel works of Messrs. Rushton and
Eckersley at Bolton in Lancashire. This was experi-
mented on by himself, and he made offers to introduce the
invention at some of the large ironworks in Staffordshire;
but the results do not seem to have been encouraging.
The subject was on his mind for many years afterwards,
and he often renewed his proposals thereon to manu-
facturers, insisting on the advantages they might gain
thereby. In 1863 he included the "four à puddler,” in a
formal licence to Messrs. Martin in France; and in 1864
he offered to the Mersey Steel and Iron Company to con-
struct puddling furnaces for them at his own risk.
It appears that some furnaces were erected in conse-
quence of these proposals, but the results were doubtful,
and Mr. Siemens turned back to his own former trials at
Bolton, and resolved to carry them further.
He was so satisfied with the promise of those trials, that
CHAP. VI.]
141
THE PUDDLING FURNACE.
in 1868 he described the furnace in a paper laid before the
British Association. The Council of the Association were
impressed with the importance of this paper, and they
decided, unsolicited, to publish it in extenso in the Proceed-
ings instead of in abstract as usual; an honour seldom
granted. The paper was considered the best read at the
meeting.
After a careful scientific analysis of the chemistry of the
puddling process, he said :-
Led by these chemical considerations, and by practical attention
to the subject, I am brought to the conclusion that the process of
puddling, as practised at present, is extremely wasteful in iron and
fuel, immensely laborious, and yielding a metal only imperfectly
separated from its impurities.
After describing the new furnace, he pointed out the
advantages it had shown in economy of time, fuel, and
labour, in facility of management, and in increase of
quantity and improvement in quality of the metal pro-
duced. He added, that the application was about to be
tried by several enterprising iron firms, and this was
afterwards done.
In 1871, a committee was appointed by the Iron and
Steel Institute, "to visit various works in which improved
appliances or arrangements for puddling were in operation,"
and they laid their Report before the meeting in 1872.
They mentioned several places where puddling furnaces
on Siemens's plan were in use. In some cases the
reports were favourable, but in others difficulties were
met with; and on the whole the application of the
regenerative furnace to this purpose does not appear to
have come into use to any important extent.
1
142
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
STEEL MANUFACTURE.
A far more important and successful use of the
furnace was, however, brought into operation by Mr.
Siemens during the period comprised in this chapter;
namely, its application to the production of steel; and as
this proved to be one of the most important of his life's
labours, it deserves a somewhat full notice here.
The ordinary method of steel making by the process.
called cementation, i.e., by the prolonged heating of bar
iron in contact with charcoal, was tedious and expen-
sive. Other modes had been partially used; but it
was not till the introduction of the Bessemer process,
between 1856 and 1860, that the metal could be produced
on a large scale and at a cheap rate. This process, how-
ever, required a peculiar and cumbersome apparatus, and a
desire was naturally felt for simpler means of accomplish-
ing the same end.
Such a means had been suggested as early as 1722 by
Réaumur, the distinguished French philosopher, who pro-
posed to produce steel in large quantities by simply fusing
wrought and cast iron together on the open hearth of
a reverberatory furnace. This proposal was afterwards.
renewed by a well-known practical steel maker, Heath, of
Sheffield.
The experiment had been tried, but it had not succeeded
in consequence of the defects and want of power in the
furnace employed. Mr. Siemens saw that with his regene-
rative furnace it might be possible to carry out this idea;
and accordingly, soon after the earliest patent was ob-
tained, Frederick and William Siemens made some trials
with this view. But they were very imperfect, and it was
CHAP. VI.] THE STEEL MANUFACTURE.
143
not till the great improvement was effected by gaseous
fuel in 1861, that there was any real hope for the steel
manufacture.
The advantages of the improvement, for this purpose,
consisted not only in the increased power, but also in the
exclusion of solid fuel, which rendered it possible to secure
a degree of purity in the melted product, which, with
ordinary reverberatory furnaces, was quite unattainable.
This application of the Gas Furnace to steel making was
clearly in the minds of the brothers Siemens when it was
first brought out by them, as is shown by the following
passage in the original patent of January, 1861 :-
We are enabled to carry on operations in the open furnace
which it has only been possible hitherto to conduct in covered
vessels or pots. We are thus enabled to melt flint and other
superior qualities of glass in open pots, to fire pottery without
enclosing the same in saggers, or to melt steel and other substances
upon an open hearth or bed without injury.
In a subsequent part of the patent a construction of
furnace is described, which it is said—
May be employed with advantage for smelting iron, for making
steel, or roasting copper and other ores.
In attempting to carry the idea out, great difficulties
had to be encountered. The question arose whether steel
could be melted and maintained as steel upon the open
hearth of a furnace, at a temperature exceeding the melting
point of most fire bricks. The general opinion of practical
men was entirely opposed to the idea; and its realization
required both time and patience.
During the year 1861 Mr. Siemens brought the subject
before Mr. Abraham Darby, of Ebbw Vale, in South Wales;
144
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
and some experiments were tried by the two brothers, with
the aid of some manufacturers, at the great steel making
locality, Sheffield. But they failed, partly on account of
defects in the early furnaces, and also, in a great measure,
from the want of perseverance on the part of the manu-
facturers and their workmen.
The earliest successful use of the Siemens furnace for steel
purposes appears to have been, not for the original produc-
tion of the metal, but simply for the melting of it in large
quantities. It may be explained that one of the most
important operations in the steel manufacture consists in
subjecting the material to the process of melting in pots,
so producing what is called cast steel. Pieces of steel,
already converted by cementation or other carburetting
process, are melted in crucibles or pots, exposed to a high
heat in a furnace, certain ingredients being sometimes
added to affect the chemical composition. The result of
this melting is greatly to improve the quality, producing
the most valuable form of steel.
But the quantity of steel that can be melted in each pot
is necessarily limited; the manipulation is troublesome;
and the whole process is expensive. One of the first
questions therefore was whether, by this Siemens furnace,
the melting of steel could be effected without the use of
crucibles.
In 1862 Mr. Siemens had some correspondence with Mr.
Charles Attwood, of the Tow Law Iron Works, near
Durham, on this subject, and made for him a design for
a furnace, sufficient to melt 5 cwt. of steel on the open
hearth. There is no record of the details of Mr. Attwood's
trials, but the result was that although the furnace fully
answered its purpose, he did not succeed in getting the
quality of steel he desired, and the manufacture was not
continued.
CHAP. VI.] THE STEEL MANUFACTURE.
145
In the meantime a friend of Mr. Siemens, an eminent
French metallurgist, M. Lechatelier, had been interesting
himself to get the furnaces used abroad, and Mr. Siemens
had granted, at his instance, a license to the "Société
Boigues Rambourg & Cie.," of Fourchambault, to use
the heating system in conjunction with some process
designed by M. Lechatelier. A furnace was erected and
some samples of steel were obtained, but the roof of the
furnace soon melted down, and the proprietors were so
disheartened that they abandoned the trials.
The subject was taken up with more success by another
firm, Messrs. Pierre and Émile Martin, steel and iron
manufacturers, at Sireuil in the Department of the
Charente. A correspondence was opened between them
and Mr. Siemens which led to the agreement set forth in
the following letter:
LONDRES, 26 Mars, 1863.
À MONSIEUR ÉMILE MARTIN, 12, Rue Chaptal à Paris,—
Me référant à la conversation que j'ai dernièrement eu
l'avantage d'avoir avec vous à Paris, il est entendu que vous êtes
autorisé d'appliquer mes procédés de chauffage à vos fours à
puddler, à rechauffer, à souder, et à fondre l'acier sur un sol ouvert
dans vos forges de Sireuil.
Les redevances qui me seront acquises semestriellement sur vos
applications seront à raison de
500 fr. par an. par four à puddler
1000
""
""
2000
""
""
à souder ou à rechauffer
à fondre l'acier,
d'une capacité suffisante pour produire six tonneaux d'acier
fondu par 24 heures. Si vous construirez des fours à fondre l'acier
d'une capacité plus grande, les redevances seraient augmentées
proportionellement.
Au reçu d'un croquis des positions de vos forges et des indi-
cations accessoires sur les dimensions de vos premières applica-
tions je m'occuperai immédiatement des plans détaillés.
Si vous désirez avoir un de mes ingénieurs pour surveiller les
L
146
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
constructions et la mise en marche de vos nouveaux fours, je
mettrai une personne capable à votre disposition, ses frais de
voyage aller et retour, ainsi que ses appointements à raison de
20 francs par jour, demeurant à votre charge.
C. W. SIEMENS.
Messrs. Martin acted on this privilege by getting a fur-
nace constructed under Mr. Siemens's direction. But they
did not confine its use simply to melting steel already made,
they adapted it for effecting the production of the metal,
by the process suggested by Réaumur and Heath,
namely, by fusing cast and wrought iron together. They
succeeded in producing, by this method, cast steel of
excellent quality and of various tempers; they received
a new and extended licence from Mr. Siemens in 1866,
and their produce, as farther carried out and improved,
was awarded a gold medal at the French Exhibition of
1867.
In 1865 further experimental trials were made, at Mr.
Siemens's instance, at Barrow, and other places in England
and Scotland. They were successful in producing good
steel, but difficulties were found to arise, chiefly from the
action of the great heat on the structure of the furnace,
and the manufacture was not profitable.
Mr. Siemens however held to the opinion that the
process would, if perfected, be of great value, both
scientifically and commercially; and despairing of seeing
it successfully carried out by manufacturers, he determined
to change his plan of operations. Hitherto he had done
nothing beyond supplying the furnaces, leaving the steel
making and melting operations entirely to the manufac-
turer. But he resolved now to undertake some extensive
experiments on steel making under his own eye, for the
purpose of thoroughly investigating the question.
CHAP. VI.]
147
THE STEEŁ MANUFACTURE.
In 1865 a favourable opportunity of doing this occurred.
It happened that a furnace erected some time before on
his principle at No. 20, Hampton Street, Birmingham, had
become disused; and the premises where it stood were
offered to Mr. Siemens. He saw this would be a conve-
nient place for his steel experiments, and it was accordingly
arranged that he should rent the premises for a year, with
liberty to alter and use the furnace as he desired.
Possession was obtained the beginning of 1866, and on
the 29th March he wrote to Mr. Attwood:-
The steel furnace at Birmingham is alight, and appears to do
well. The first charge will be melted on Saturday.
In August he said :-
The steel melting furnace which I erected at Birmingham has
now been in full operation for some time, and is a most complete
success. It has been working night and day for five weeks in
melting extra soft steel for wire, and the furnace lining is still
intact. The body of the furnace will last for several years, and
the lining when it fails can be replaced in a day.
The consumption of fuel does not exceed 1 tons of slack per
ton of cast-steel of the softest kind produced. . . . I can produce
a ton of cast-steel for less money than Bessemer, and of superior
quality.
The experiments went on unremittingly, and were so
useful, and the results so important, that Mr. Siemens
found it worth his while to take a lease of the premises
for fourteen years. He did not wish at that time to be
considered a steel manufacturer, or to interfere with the
trade, as he preferred to work in co-operation with the
steel firms. He arranged that they should commission
him to manufacture steel for them, supplying him with
the materials, and sometimes also with the labour, but he
directing the whole details of manufacture. In fact, what
L 2
148
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
he wanted was that the makers should see for themselves
what it was possible to accomplish, if his process was carried
out thoroughly and effectually.
As, however, his operations became larger, it was
difficult to avoid executing orders for steel that were sent
him, and towards the end of 1867 he resolved to extend
the works and add new furnaces, so as to enable him to
keep a stock of materials, and, to a small extent, manu-
facture steel for sale. He still, however, desired to avoid.
the appearance of competing with the steel trade, and
for this purpose he determined to give a name to his works
which should indicate the limited purpose he had originally
in view in regard to them. He at first thought of the term
"Model Steel Works;" but afterwards considering that
this would imply conditions of perfection that were not
to be attained in such a position, he altered the name to
"The Siemens Sample Steel Works," by which title they
were afterwards generally known.
The work was at first carried on under great dis-
advantages; the processes were new, and Mr. Siemens.
had to educate his own workmen; but by perseverance
the difficulties were overcome, and the results of the
experiment were most beneficial in enabling him, not
only to work out successfully the details of the various
processes, but to exhibit and prove their advantages to
manufacturers in the trade.
He succeeded perfectly in obtaining a full command
over the qualities of steel manufactured, and samples
made at the works obtained, like Messrs. Martin's, one
of the great prizes at the Paris Exhibition of 1867.
He now took out his first patent specially for the steel
manufacture. It was dated 21st August, 1867, and entitled
"Improvements in Furnaces and in Processes and Apparatus
CHAP. VI.]
149
THE STEEL MANUFACTURE.
in connection therewith, principally applicable to Metal-
lurgical Operations." It commenced by stating :—
Cast-steel may be produced directly from the ore.
Or it may be produced by melting cast-iron (containing by pre-
ference manganese) and scrap-iron, or scrap-steel, or blooms of
puddled steel or iron in a reverberatory furnace,—
Or it may be produced by these two processes conjointly.
The improved arrangements of furnaces for these purposes
were described, and the claims bearing on them were as
follows:
Second.-Making cast-steel upon the open hearth of a furnace
by causing wrought-iron, steel, or white cast-iron to descend upon
inclined planes or through hoppers, where they become gradually
heated, into a fluid bath of cast-iron under the influence of very
intense heat, where they are dissolved and converted into cast
steel.
Third.-Applying regenerative gas furnaces to the operations set
forth... in such a manner that a portion of the products of
combustion are withdrawn to heat the materials descending into
the furnace by gravity, while the remaining products of combustion,
which have not been reduced in temperature by contact with cold
materials, pass through regenerators to the chimney in the usual
manner, the effect being that the temperature of the furnace is not
reduced by the introduction of such cold materials.
In May, 1868, Mr. Siemens explained his invention in a
lecture given to the Chemical Society of London ;—and it
may be convenient here to give a brief description of the
processes used by him.
The basis in all cases is the use of pig-iron, which is
melted so as to form a "bath" in the furnace. But this
contains a superfluity of carbon, and in order to reduce
the quantity of this to the small proportion necessary
to form steel, the liquid mass has to be partially decar-
buretted by treatment with some other substance, and this
decarburization may be done in two different ways.
150
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
First, it may be effected by adding malleable iron, usually
in the shape of what is called "scrap." A bath, of say
30 cwt. of highly heated pig metal is provided on the
furnace hearth, into which from 4 to 5 tons of scrap metal
or puddled bars are gradually introduced in a heated con-
dition. They readily melt and mix with the pig metal, and
the addition is continued until a point is reached when the
carbon of the combined fluid mass does not exceed 0.1 per
cent., a point which can be readily ascertained by testing
a sample taken from the bath. Ferro-manganese or
Spiegeleisen is then added in such quantity as will impart
the requisite proportion of carbon and manganese to form
the quality of steel required.
This process was named by Mr. Siemens the "scrap
scrap" or
"Siemens-Martin" process, from the fact that Messrs.
Martin had been instrumental to its first introduction by
the aid of the Siemens Regenerative Gas Furnace.
Secondly, it may be effected by adding iron ore. A
bath of from 6 to 7 tons of molten pig metal is prepared,
and ore (previously melted by preference with such a
proportion of fluxing material as is necessary to form with
the earthy matter of the ore and the silicon contained in
the pig metal, a basic slag), is gradually introduced until,
by the reaction of the ferric-oxide with the carbon and
silicon of the bath, the latter substances are consumed, and
a fluid bath of almost pure iron is obtained, when the
operation is stopped, and Spiegeleisen added as before.
This is called the "Siemens" or "Ore" process, and it is
considered to have the advantage, that there is greater
certainty as to the result, because of the known composition
of the materials used, which cannot be the case in dealing
with large quantities of scrap, obtained, probably, from
many different sources.
One of the advantages claimed for the open hearth pro-
CHAP. VI.]
151
THE STEEL MANUFACTURE.
cess, on either modification, consists in its not being
dependent on a limited time for its results. The heat of
the furnace is such that the fluid bath of metal, after being
reduced to the lowest point of carburization, may be main-
tained in that condition for any reasonable length of time.
During this time samples can be taken and tested, and
additions either of pig metal, of wrought scrap, or ore, may
be made to it to adjust it to the desired temper. The
proportion of Spiegeleisen or ferro-manganese, exactly
requisite, is then added, and the result is a bath of metal
the precise chemical condition of which is accurately known.
This circumstance renders the material applicable for
certain purposes for which pot-steel has hitherto been
mostly employed.*
Having established the efficacy and settled the details
of his processes, Mr. Siemens determined to take steps
to introduce them into beneficial use: and his first
attempt was in the shape of an application to the London
and North Western Railway Company. It occurred to
him that his inventions might be advantageously applied
to an object which would at once commend itself to
the Railway Directors, namely the utilizing of their old
worn out iron rails by converting them, with slight expense,
into new ones of the superior metal, steel. The great
advantage of steel over iron rails, in point of durability,
was then just becoming appreciated, but the cost of new
steel rails was high, and Mr. Siemens saw that by offering
the companies the means of making them themselves at
a cheap rate, he would be laying before them a tempting
proposal.
He therefore wrote as follows to Mr. Ramsbottom, the
* Address to the Iron and Steel Institute, 1877.
152
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
engineer in charge of the London and North Western
Railway Works at Crewe.
The subject upon which I particularly wanted to see you is one
of considerable importance, and having finished my plans and ex-
periments, I think it will save you time and trouble if I put a distinct
proposition before you, and through you before your Company.
I have now fully succeeded to melt steel in from two to four
ton-charges upon the open hearth of my Regenerative Gas
Furnace. The quality of the steel produced is equal to pot-metal
produced from the same materials, and the operation is conducted
with the greatest ease.
The cost of melting a ton of scrap-metal and its proportion (of
10 per cent.) of pig metal does not exceed 30s. per ton including
fuel, labour, wear and tear of furnace and the ferro-manganese
required.
The cost of four furnaces and producers capable of producing
easily 5000 tons of cast-steel per annum, would not exceed £3000.
You would probably not require so great a number of furnaces for
melting your scrap-steel, but iron is equally applicable, and it has
struck me that your Company would have a great interest in
converting old rails into steel of sufficient quality to make good
steel rails. The old rails would have to be cut into lengths of
three feet, and the weight of steel ingots produced would equal
that of rails and pig metal put together, there being no waste in
the process beyond what would be made up by the ferro-
manganese.
I shall be able to give you the means of trying this process at
my own steel works at Birmingham in a furnace which will take
16 cwt. charges.
On
The Directors carefully considered the matter, and after
some delay determined to make the experiment.
the 4th June, 1868, Mr. Siemens, at their request sent in
a more formal proposition; this was accepted, and some fur-
naces were built under his direction. They fully answered
their purpose, and the conversion of old rails into new
ones by their aid has gone on to the present day.
CHAP. VI.]
153
THE STEEL MANUFACTURE.
In 1868 a somewhat similar application was made to
the Great Western Railway, but in a different manner.
Mr. Siemens obtained a truck load of their old rails from
Swansea. He took them to his works at Birmingham, and
converted them into steel ingots, which were sent to the
rolling mills of Sir John Brown & Co. at Sheffield, to be
rolled into new rails of the Great Western pattern. These
were then delivered to the company, and were found by
them to be of such remarkably good quality as to establish
fully the value of the process.*
The result of these applications was that in the year
1868 Mr. Siemens had under hand the construction of
several furnaces for the carrying out of his modes of
making steel.
It would have been well if he had stopped here, and
allowed the development of the new invention to take
place among the manufacturers, contenting himself, as in
the case of the Regenerative Furnace, with the highly
profitable patent royalties that must have accrued to him.
But he now wished to go further. The success of the
trials at the Sample Steel Works, the general interest
shewn in the new processes, and the prospect of supplying
a valuable and high class material in constantly increasing
demand, at prices realizing great profits, tempted him to do
what he had formerly set his face against, i.e., to enter
into trade as a steel manufacturer on a large scale.
Towards the end of 1867, Mr. Siemens and a few friends
proposed to form a private company to establish steel
works in accordance with the new process. The
locality first suggested was either on the Thames or
in the North of England: but on further consideration the
* These rails, though subject to more than ordinary traffic, were not
taken up till 1878, and then were not worn out.
154
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
•
district of South Wales was preferred. Search was made
in this neighbourhood, and attention was directed to certain
works at Landore, near Swansea, the property of Mr. L. L.
Dillwyn, M.P., where Mr. Siemens had erected furnaces a
few years before. In July he visited the neighbourhood,
and other sites were considered, but on the 6th August,
1868, he wrote to one of the promoters :-
It is really the utmost time to move, and I am quite satisfied to
adhere to Landore and get to work. I have commenced setting
out the works upon your plan, and hope to see you very soon, or
we shall lose the whole year.
An arrangement was accordingly made, and a small
company was formed, under the name of the Landore
Siemens Steel Company, Mr. Dillwyn being the Chairman,
and Mr. Donald Gordon (Mr. Siemens's brother-in-law) the
Managing Director.
The works were purchased, and the alterations to fit
them for their new purpose were made with all possible
speed. They were set to work about the middle of 1869,
when 75 tons of steel per week were produced of excellent
quality.
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
Regenerative Gas Engine. In 1860, Mr. Siemens
designed an engine to be worked by gas, under a patent
taken out by him in August of the previous year. It was
driven by a combination of coal gas and air, the mixture
being fired at each stroke by an electric spark. It was
provided with a regenerative apparatus for saving a great
part of the heat which would otherwise be discharged with
the waste gases.
An engine on this plan was actually constructed; it was
shown at the International Exhibition of 1862, and is now
CHAP. VI.]
155
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
in the Museum at South Kensington. It was mentioned
by Dr. Siemens in a discussion at the Institution of Civil
Engineers, 4 April, 1882. He said that the gas engine of
the present day was, in his opinion, in the condition of the
steam engine at the time of Newcomen. His own engine
had promised to give very good results; but at the time of
its invention he was too much occupied with other matters
to attend to it. The time, however, was come when the
subject required full investigation, as it was one of great
importance to engineers.
Gunnery Inventions.—Mr. Siemens gave some attention
to the engineering implements of war. In 1861 he
designed, and obtained a provisional patent for a peculiar
kind of war-ship, intended to throw a large shell which
he expected would "make an irreparable breach in an
enemy's ship's side." He explained his invention to the
Admiralty, but nothing came of the communication.
In 1867, he was asked to give his advice in regard to
checking the recoil in gun carriages, and he recommended
hydraulic compression. This was afterwards adopted,
without, as Mr. Siemens complained, any acknowledgment
of his services in the matter.*
Birmingham Gas Consumers' Company.-After the "gas
producer” had been well tested in its application to heating
furnaces, Mr. Siemens conceived the idea that he could adapt
it to supplant the usual modes of manufacturing gas for
illumination. In the year 1863, he induced some of his
friends in Birmingham to take up the idea, and to get up a
company for supplying gas so made to that town.
He pre-
pared designs for a gas producer, which, as he stated, would
generate gas of the highest power, both for lighting and
* Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, 1881, vol. i., p. 489.
156
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
heating purposes; he laid great stress on the latter kind,
which he said could be supplied for sixpence per 1000 feet.
It would also produce coke very superior in quality to that
ordinarily made in gas works. The company was to be
called the Birmingham Gas Consumers' Company. A bill
for the purpose of establishing it was presented to Parlia-
ment in the spring of 1864, but it was rejected by the
Committee appointed to examine it, and the proposition
was never renewed.
Governor.-During this period he revived the subject
of his old chronometric governor, which always seems to
have had a special attraction for him.
On the 25th January, 1866, he read a second paper upon
it before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. After
referring to the former description of his invention, and
stating that it had acted at Greenwich with almost mathe-
matical precision, he described an improved form of the
machine lately introduced by him.
The general idea, i.e., regulating the motion by com-
parison with a chronometric action, was unchanged, but
instead of the former pendulum apparatus he had now
substituted a revolving cup containing fluid, the centrifugal
action of which furnished the regulating element. He
explained the applicability of the apparatus to clocks as
well as steam engines, and concluded by saying :—
The writer's practical career having commenced twenty-three
years ago with the subject of the chronometric governor, although
his attention has since been engrossed with other subjects, he
trusts that this application of a new principle of action may lead
to a more complete realization of the object in view, namely, the
attainment of really uniform rotation in mechanism.
But he had a higher view in regard to this invention
than the mere practical regulation of steam engines. He
CHAP. VI.]
157
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
looked upon the subject of "uniform rotation" as one of
general scientific interest, and he accordingly presented a
paper with that title to the Royal Society; it was read
there on the 12th of April, 1866, and subsequently received
the honour of being printed in the Philosophical Trans-
actions.
The improvement here described, was protected by a
patent dated May 2, 1865: but we do not find that the
invention had any important practical success; it was, how-
ever, in later days, put to a use not originally intended.
It had been remarked, that in regulating the speed of an
engine, the machine acted to some extent as an absorber
of surplus power, and this suggested the idea of applying
it as a substitute for the treadmill or crank, in forced prison-
labour. It was thus used in the gaols of Liverpool, Manchester,
Leicester, Stafford, and elsewhere, giving every satisfaction.
British Association.-During this period, Mr. Siemens
took an active part in the proceedings of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science. A body
of this nature naturally presented great attraction for
him. He had joined it in 1856, and had attended
many of its meetings, communicating papers, and joining
in the discussions.
In the year 1869, at the meeting at Exeter, he was
appointed President of Section G., Mechanical Science, on
which occasion he delivered to the section an effective and
appropriate opening address. This was not, as many such
addresses are, a mere account of progress made and works
effected, in mechanical science; but it discussed several
interesting and relevant topics in a way showing much
thought and originality.
Among the subjects treated of were technical education;
the Patent Laws; the application of heat; and the impor-
158
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
tance and utility of cooling processes, which have in later
times been so largely developed.
ELECTRICAL WORK.
We must now turn to the other great branch of work
that occupied Mr. Siemens, namely, electrical matters.
While he appeared to be absorbed in the multifarious
chemical, mechanical, and metallurgical details attendant
on his gigantic furnace operations, he was also steadily and
quietly persevering in his electrical business, which indeed
now began to assume greater importance.
At the end of the period comprised in the last chapter,
¿.e., in 1859, Mr. Siemens's position was that of managing
partner of the English branch of the firm of Siemens and
Halske, having a small manufactory of telegraph apparatus
under his own care in London. They were already supply-
ing telegraph work to a considerable extent, and Mr.
Siemens had established a character for special acquaint-
ance with the subject of submarine cables.
Malta and Alexandria Cable.-In 1860 the firm were
appointed by H.M. Government to superintend the en-
gineering and electrical departments in the manufacture
and laying of a cable which was originally intended to con-
nect Falmouth and Gibraltar, and for which Messrs. Glass
Elliott & Co. were the contractors. The destination of
this cable was afterwards changed, when it was determined
to lay it between Rangoon and Singapore, and for this
purpose it was shipped at the end of the year on board
the Queen Victoria. The vessel, however, encountered
severe weather in the Channel and had to put into
Plymouth for repairs, after which it was found impossible
for her to reach the Malay coast in time for the fine season,
and the project was therefore abandoned.
CHAP. VI.]
159
ELECTRICAL WORK.
In January, 1861, it was finally decided that the cable
should be laid between Malta and Alexandria, and the
scheme was successfully carried out in the following
summer. The cable was divided into three sections,
between Malta and Tripoli; Tripoli and Benghazi, and
Benghazi and Alexandria respectively, the total length
being about 1350 miles.
The cable was laid by Government, Messrs. Siemens
being engaged by them to act as electricians during the
operation.
Indiarubber as an Insulator.-The two brothers, Werner
and William, having by this time had considerable ex-
perience in regard to submarine cables, determined to
make known some of the results they had arrived at, and
in 1860 they wrote a joint paper to the British Association,
embodying their studies of the Principles and Practice
involved in dealing with the electric conditions of Submarine
Electric Telegraphs.
This paper had reference principally to the insulation,
and to the use of indiarubber as an insulating material.
An ingenious machine was devised by them for applying
this to cables, and it was fully described by Wm. Siemens
in a paper given to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
on the 8th August, 1860.
Other published Papers.-Mr. Siemens had other ex-
periences with the same cable, which he thought worth
making known. In May, 1862, he gave to the Insti-
tution of Civil Engineers an elaborate paper "On the
Electrical Tests employed during the construction of the
Malta and Alexandria Telegraph, and on Insulating and
Protecting Submarine Cables." He had introduced new
methods of testing, which he considered had given to this
160
[CHAP. VI
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
long cable a great superiority over all former ones in per-
manency and in transmitting power;-and he gave full
particulars of these methods and their results. In the
course of these trials he had been led to study the con-
struction of submarine cables generally, and he added
notes of opinions which he had arrived at, particularly
regarding their protection and insulation. This paper was
rewarded by a Premium.
He had further taken advantage of the manufacture of
this cable to institute some experiments on the general
electrical conditions of submarine cables, which he commu-
nicated to the British Association at their Meeting at
Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1863.
Exhibition of 1862.-The firm of Siemens and Halske
sent to this Exhibition a very large assortment of electrical
apparatus of various kinds, appearing both as British and
as foreign exhibitors. The collection attracted great
notice, and was rewarded by three separate Medals,
namely:-
One for "the general excellence of their telegraphic
apparatus ;"—
One for "a well-constructed telegraph wire-covering
machine" for coating with indiarubber.
And one for "their mechanical transmitter for Morse's
telegraph, and for their voltaic induction coil, the most
powerful exhibited.”
While the exhibition was going on Mr. Siemens wrote,
for the Practical Mechanic's Journal, a general description
of the electrical instruments and telegraphic apparatus
shown therein. This article, prefaced by a history of the
electric telegraph, and profusely illustrated by engravings,
was so full and elaborate as to form a complete record of
electric telegraphy as it existed at that time.
CHAP. VI.]
161
THE ATLANTIC CABLE.
The Atlantic Cable.-After the failure of the first cable
laid across the Atlantic in 1858, the Board of Trade ap-
pointed a Commission, consisting of Captain (now Sir Dou-
glas) Galton, R.E., Professor Wheatstone, Mr. (afterwards
Sir) William Fairbairn, and Mr. G. P. Bidder, to join with the
officers of the Atlantic Telegraph Company in holding an
enquiry into the "best form for the composition and outer
covering of submarine telegraph cables." This joint Com-
mittee sat for nearly two years, and they took a great amount
of evidence from persons of experience on the subject.
Among these was Mr. Siemens, who gave evidence.
twice, namely, on the 1st December, 1859, and on the
9th March, 1860. He stated fully the results of his
experiences with submarine cables ;-described experi-
ments and observations he had made;—and gave at con-
siderable length his ideas as to how a deep-sea cable should
be constructed;-adding that he saw no reason why a cable
lying 2,000 fathoms deep should not last as long as in
shallower water. He also contributed an additional Paper,
by himself and his brother, giving elaborate calculations
and observations on electrical resistance and induction,
with various materials.
The Commission, in April, 1861, laid before Government
a full Report, which, with the evidence and many valuable
documents, was published as a Parliamentary Paper.
Although Mr. Siemens's share in the matter of this first
Atlantic enterprise was not very prominent, the study he
gave to the subject was not lost upon him, for when,
some ten years later, his firm undertook to lay additional
cables across the Atlantic, he was able to make good use
of the knowledge he had thus acquired.
The Charlton Factory.-In 1863 a great change was
effected in regard to the electric work.
M
162
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
A few years' experience with the small Millbank work-
shop had enabled the firm to see that, in view of the con-
tinually increasing orders, an extension of the manufac-
turing capabilities of electrical apparatus in England would
be very desirable. Moreover, after the experience they had
had in advising on and superintending the submarine work
of other firms, they believed it would be to their advantage
to undertake this branch of the business themselves.
The Berlin firm had by this time increased greatly in
magnitude. They had not only much extended their own
business, but they had thrown out large branch establish-
ments of a similar kind in St. Petersburg, in Vienna, and
elsewhere; and they were not averse to bring up their
London works to a like scale of importance.
William was charged with the duty of arranging this.
He found a piece of land of suitable character adjoining
the Thames at Charlton, near Woolwich, where, with the
concurrence and aid of the Berlin firm, he designed and
erected manufacturing works of the kind desired, suitable
for making all kinds of telegraph instruments, apparatus,
and materials, including submarine cables, which could be
thus shipped for transport directly upon the river.
Thus originated the electrical manufacturing works
which have since become so celebrated and so well known.
At the close of 1864, Mr. Halske retired from his con-
nexion with the London firm, which was then reconstituted,
the three brothers, viz., Dr. Werner Siemens, of Berlin,
Mr. Charles William Siemens, of London, and Mr. Carl
Siemens, of St. Petersburg, being in partnership, and carry-
ing on the business, from the beginning of 1865, under the
name of "Siemens Brothers." The Berlin firm retained
the name of Siemens and Halske.
These works were gradually enlarged as the business
increased, and as the applications of electricity became
CHAP. VI.]
163
THE CHARLTON FACTORY.
more extended to
other objects, such as lighting, power-
giving, and so on. They now occupy an area of above six
acres; they have sometimes employed between 2,000 and
3,000 men, and have been capable of turning out 60 miles
of submarine cable per diem.
It need hardly be said that, although the three brothers
had joint interest in the works, yet William, as the resi-
dent partner and manager, had the chief responsibility in
their management, and the most active share in the opera-
tions.
He gave unremitting personal attention to the works,
and the result was that the multifarious processes there
carried on, and the great variety of apparatus that issued
therefrom, bore largely the impress of his originality and
inventive power. It was a saying common in the work-
shops, that as soon as any particular problem had been
given up by everybody else, it had only to be taken to
Mr. William Siemens for him to suggest half a dozen ways
of solving it, two of which would be complicated and
impracticable, two difficult, and two perfectly satisfactory.
He had, to aid him, an efficient engineering and electric
staff, at the head of whom was Mr. L. Loeffler, who had
formerly been engaged in the Berlin firm, and who, at a
subsequent period, became the managing director of the
establishment.
It would be tedious and unnecessary, in this work, to
give any lengthy reference to the many works executed
at the Charlton Factory. Our notices must be confined
to those which were of special interest, or in which the
part taken by William Siemens was specially deserving
of mention.
M 2
164
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
The Algerian Cable.
The first work of importance undertaken in the new
factory was a contract with the French Government for the
manufacture and laying of a submarine cable to form a
communication with their colonies in Algeria. It was
to be about 140 miles long, extending from Oran, a town
on the Algerian coast, to Carthagena in Spain, from whence
land communications already existed with France.
In January, and again in May, 1863, Mr. Siemens went
to Paris to negotiate the matter. This was the first time
the firm had undertaken to lay, on their own responsibility,
a deep-sea cable, and on the 13th May Werner wrote to
William as follows:-
I hope this will find you in Paris.
We shall be glad if you bring about this first contract for cable-
laying. Although the depths, as far as I know, are considerable,
I do not consider the laying itself very risky. I do not think we
could, in case of need, get the whole up again, for raising a cable
has always its difficulties, yet the risk is endurable, if we cannot
get better terms; a more real difficulty consists in the uncertainty
as to the means and conditions we may find there.
The contract was duly obtained, and the new factory
at Charlton being ready, the manufacture of the cable was
at once put in hand there. The design of this cable
was on a somewhat novel plan, so far as the outer covering
was concerned, which consisted of a binding sheathing of
thin brass or copper strips, overlapping each other and
put on the hemp covering under great pressure. It was
described in a paper to the British Association in 1865.
The construction of the cable took longer time than was
anticipated; but Mr. Siemens worked day and night at the
factory to get it finished, and it was embarked on the
10th of December, 1863, on board a French ship specially
CHAP. VI.]
155
THE ALGERIAN CABLE.
fitted for the purpose, and which was afterwards named
the Dix Décembre in honour of the day.
It had been arranged that Werner and William should
both go out to superintend personally the laying of the
cable, and they left London for the purpose, accompanied
by Mrs. William Siemens, on the 19th December, passing
through Paris and Madrid. On January 1st, 1864, the Diary
of Mrs. Siemens says: "A new year in a new country.
'Auf nach Valencia,' and here we are in Valencia; Werner,
William, and I, drinking the healths of our dear ones in
Germany and Old England.”
From thence they travelled by land through Almanza,
Alicante, and Murcia, to Carthagena, where they joined the
ship that carried the cable. It had been decided to begin
the laying from the Oran end, and on January 9th the ship
left Carthagena, arriving at Mers-el-Kebir, near Oran, the
following morning.
The necessary preparations having been made, and the
"shore end" having been laid, on the 14th January the
Dix Décembre was brought up to the spot, and having
connected the cable end, the laying commenced at I P.M.
All appeared to go well for some hours, when the cable
broke.
After the fracture the ship returned to Mers-el-Kebir.
A consultation was held on board, and the question was
raised whether it would be possible to lay the remainder of
the cable, still lying in the vessel, between Oran and
another town in the South of Spain, Almeria, a distance
much shorter than to Carthagena. To further this enquiry
the ship sailed on the 15th for Almeria; some soundings
were taken, and she returned on the 19th, having passed
through a fearful storm. More consultations followed,
and it was at last decided to try the Almeria line. On
the 28th another connexion was made to the shore end,
166
[CHAP. IV.
ACTIVE BUSINESS...
and at 6 A.M. the laying was begun, but about 7 P.M. the
cable again broke, and the following day the ship returned
to Carthagena. Mr. Siemens and his party then proceeded
to Madrid, and afterwards to Paris; he remained a long
time in treating with the Government as to future pro-
ceedings; and he did not get home till nearly the end of
February.
On this journey, as well as on many subsequent ones,
it was a great comfort and assistance to William to have
the companionship of his wife. In one letter to her sister
she wrote:-
With such a husband, surely I can brave all things, and being
ever at his side I make him careful of himself, and now and then
turn even this into a pleasure trip! .
But those who have travelled in Spain some twenty years
ago in the depth of winter, may form an idea how much
a delicate lady would have to "brave" in such a journey.
It was not only the intense cold, for the alleviation of
which there was no provision, but there were many other
discomforts of many kinds; and in the six weeks during
which she had to endure these trials her health suffered
materially.
The French Government had authorized Mr. Siemens to
carry out his proposal for a second attempt, and he forth-
with put in hand the manufacture of the new quantity of
cable required. This was ready in a few months, and
about the beginning of August, 1864, William left England
for Toulon, from whence he proceeded on board a French
Government steamer to Algeria. On this journey he would
not allow his wife to accompany him.
On the 12th September she received a telegram telling
her that the cable was successfully laid; but on the 17th
followed another announcing "quelques dérangements." He
CHAP. VI.]
167
THE ALGERIAN CABLE.
remained till the end of October, but all his endeavours to
make it right were in vain.
•
On the 11th November he wrote thus to Colonel
Stewart:
You will doubtless have heard that I have been unsuccessful
with the Oran and Carthagena Cable. Upon the second attempt
it was indeed quite successfully laid, and worked admirably for a
few hours, when the cable broke, ten miles from Carthagena, upon
the edge of a precipice which descends almost perpendicularly
from comparatively shallow water to 2800 metres.
I had given 25 per cent. slack in approaching the rising ground,
which, according to the soundings (by the French Admiralty),
rises gradually. The cable must have been for nearly a mile in
tree suspension, and a fluctuation in the strength of the currents
caused it to give way.
The French Government admit that the soundings were to blame,
and that a cable is not practicable in such a locality; they have
therefore determined to go from Algeria to Sicily, Corsica, and on
to Nice, and to charge me with the manufacture of the surplus
length, making use of as much of the old cable as I shall succeed
to take up. I took some up which had been laid in January last,
and which was quite unaltered. It had been at 2400 metres
depth.
This alternative line was laid by the French Govern-
ment in June, 1865, but no material portion of the old
cable was recovered.
The contract with the French government was of a
complicated nature, and led to a law suit (which, however,
was never decided, being stopped by the Franco-German
war), but the great proportion of the expense fell on the
Siemens firm.
William felt the disaster very keenly, not only on
account of the pecuniary loss, which would have gone far
to swamp a less stable business; but from a natural feel-
ing of disappointment at the failure of the first large
•
168
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
telegraph operation he had taken on his own responsibility.
He explained this to Werner, who, at the beginning of
1865 answered him, as usual, in encouraging language as
follows:
I hope you will begin the new year in good health and with
fresh courage. May the end of it correspond to your hopes and
expectations.
You are right! the by-gone year has given you hard blows ;-
but they were endurable, and what is most important I have been
glad to infer from your letters that they have not weakened your
courage or active power.
If that is so, the material losses are of subordinate importance.
Possibly fate may ordain that they may hereafter appear as gains ;
the furnace and telegraph business still prosper, thanks to your
indomitable activity and intelligent management. Misfortunes
have at least the good feature that they warn us against presump-
tion, and stimulate our prudence.
The Indo-European Telegraph.
Towards the end of this period, the two firms, Messrs.
Siemens and Halske in Berlin, and Messrs. Siemens
Brothers in London, executed jointly a work of great
national importance and of high responsibility, namely
the establishment of a line of land telegraphs forming
a direct communication between England and India,
and afterwards known by the name of the Indo-European
Telegraph.
The first telegraph communication from Europe to
India was attempted to be made in 1860, by the laying
of a submarine cable, under the auspices of the "Red Sea
and India Telegraph Company," between Egypt and the
West Coast of India. Egypt was already in telegraphic
communication with Europe, and the new cable, which was
3500 statute miles long, was in six sections, passing from
CHAP. VI.] THE INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH.
169
Suez by Kosseir, Suakim, Aden, Hallain, and Muscat, to
Kurrachee, at the mouth of the River Indus, where it
joined the Indian Government system. This cable was
finished over its whole length in February, 1860, and was
accepted by the company; but it soon failed, and in April
1861, four out of the six sections had ceased to work.
There was naturally a great public outcry at this dis-
appointment, and an attempt was made to meet the want
by a combination of different routes, chiefly overland.
The Indian Government proposed to lay a submarine
cable from Kurrachee through the Persian Gulf. They
consulted, through their agent, Colonel Stewart, R.E.,
Messrs. Siemens upon this project, and Werner and
William Siemens sent in, in October, 1862, a joint report
upon it. It was afterwards carried out. communicating, in
the Persian Gulf, with Fao on the Turkish, and with
Bushire on the Persian shore. From Fao the wire was
continued by a Turkish land line to Constantinople, where
it joined the general European system.
An alternative line was also formed as follows:-the
Indian Government continued the line by land from
Bushire to Teheran; the Persian Government carried it to
the Russian frontier at Djulfa, and the Russians then pro-
longed it across the Circassian range into Southern
Russia, where it also came upon the European system.
Messrs. Siemens lent their aid in these works, supplying
some of the materials for the land portions.
The lines were opened in 1865, but from the very first
they failed to satisfy the public demands. No dependence
could be placed on the service; the charges were high;
messages sometimes occupied weeks, and then came to
hand unintelligible; the order of the messages was fre-
quently inverted; and great confusion, uncertainty, and loss
were occasioned. The untrustworthy character of the
170
[CHAP. VI
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
service at length became so burthensome that the Govern-
ment was being continually importuned to move in the
matter, and at length earnest efforts were made to bring
about a better state of things.
Messrs. Siemens were the most active agents in the
change. In addition to their connexion with the existing
lines they possessed large mineral holdings in the Caucasus,
giving considerable traffic and requiring the permanent
residence of their own agents in the country; and in this
way they had acquired valuable knowledge as well as
important influence in the locality.
They had at an earlier period taken part in a scheme for
establishing a company to construct and work an indepen-
dent overland line from England to India, via Prussia,
Russia, and Persia, and in 1865 negotiations were opened
with the several governments, for obtaining the necessary
concessions. These negotiations were chiefly carried on by
the three brothers, Carl in Russia, Werner in Prussia, and
William in England, in conjunction with General von
Chauvin, the Director-General of Telegraphs for Prussia,
General von Lüders, who filled the same post in Russia,
and Colonel Bateman-Champain, who represented English
and Indian interests in Persia.
The following extracts from a letter from Werner to
William, dated probably early in 1865 (the name of the
month is lost), will give an idea what an important part
the brothers played in this affair :—
I have had a long conference with Chauvin, and as Lüders will
be here in a few days, we must now take decisive steps in the
matter of the Concession. By Chauvin's information the matter
stands thus:-
According to the Convention sent you, Russia and Prussia have
agreed that they will establish the London-Teheran line, and
Chauvin is commissioned to conclude the contracts, &c. Russia
CHAP. VI.] THE INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH. 171
has already agreed to give a Concession for the construction
through the whole of Russia, from the Prussian frontier. The
material engagements on the other side consist first in the payment
of five francs for a single through-message, and secondly in the
laying of an additional wire for internal Russian correspondence,
on payment to be agreed on. This wire will serve as a reserve
for the Indian line. Russia and Prussia will also allow their other
lines to be used for messages, if the line should be anywhere
interrupted; this is very important. The five francs for Russia,
and the two and a half francs for Prussia, are to be rateably
reduced, if the states ever reduce their general tariff.
Prussia will give the company a Concession for the construction
of a line from England to the Prussian coasts, which the company
can use at any time, if the agreement with the Electric Company
should not be carried out, or extinguished, or if the present wires
of the Electric Company should not suffice.
Prussia will also undertake to place at the disposal of the
company as good an amount of communication as they obtain
elsewhere on the line.
These fundamental conditions fully correspond with what
we have desired ;-in regard to Russia they go indeed much
further.
As to the company to be formed, a convention must be con-
cluded with Russia and with Prussia, which will regulate the whole
matter.
Chauvin is of opinion that England will also join, according to
Major Champain's statements, so soon as the company is actually
formed. He proposes with this object to visit England soon;
and as he and Lüders will be in Paris next month, you will be
able then to treat with both of them.
This much is certain, that Prussia as well as Russia and England
have the earnest desire, as well as the decided intention, to esta-
blish the England-India line, and that they will make considerable
sacrifices to carry out the matter.
We must now take decided steps. We have really no ground
for drawing back: the parties interested wait for our propositions,
and will then treat with us. It would, perhaps, be best that you
and Carl should come here while Lüders is here, and perhaps
also Champain, to settle all with one blow. In any case I wait
172
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
for your contract-propositions as early as possible.
as possible. In the form
we must as far as possible give way, if we are to have the substance
thoroughly favourable.
The only difficulty relates to the telegraph officials in Russia.
In Prussia good men will be chosen.
As to finding the money, I believe we could do it here; but
Chauvin, and Russia also, wish the introduction of English
capital, and an English company.
The question is now, Do you think that the capital, at least the
greater part of it, can be found in England? And if so, can we
retain the construction and mounting of the line securely in our
own hands? If not, I will set about the preliminaries here.
The most important thing, however, is to have an immediate
sketch of the contracts with the governments. You have Carl's
sketch of the Concession for Russia; and I hope to have your
propositions as early as possible.
From this time the negotiations were continually going
on for three years, the Messrs. Siemens actively engaging
in the necessary discussions. Sometimes William was sent
for in great haste to Berlin, sometimes the brothers had
to meet the representatives of the powers in Paris, and
sometimes conferences took place in London.
All this led to incessant correspondence, at first in
negotiating the terms of the concessions; then in ar-
ranging the route and the details of construction, and
finally in discussing and settling the methods of carrying
out the undertaking. In short, the burden of the
whole matter, from its inception to the opening of the
line, appears to have been borne on the Siemens's
shoulders.
At length they were prepared to act, and, armed with
the necessary powers, they promoted the formation of ar
English company to carry out, by private enterprise, what
the States, with their inelastic arrangements, had failed to
accomplish. This involved the erection of a new indepen-
CHAP. VI.] THE INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH.
173
dent line of telegraph, about 2750 miles long, through
Russian and Persian territory, from the Prussian frontier to
Teheran, and so connecting the existing Prussian system
(and through it the British Islands) with the lines of the
Indian Government already described.
The company was called "The Indo-European Telegraph
Company," and it was formed in alliance with the Electric
and International Telegraph Company. The prospectus
was issued in April, 1868, and it was thus noticed in the
City article of the Times of the 16th of that month:-
A prospectus has been issued of the Indo-European Telegraph
Company, with a capital of £450,000, to carry out the projected
lines, for which concessions have been granted to Messrs. Siemens
by the Prussian, Russian, and Persian governments. [Here follow
descriptions of the undertaking, statements of the terms of charge,
and so on.]
The working is to be direct, and under English management
throughout; the concessions are to be made over to the company
by Messrs. Siemens, in consideration of their receiving one-fifth of
the surplus profits over 12 per cent. ; and the same firm have
tendered to complete the whole undertaking during the year
1869 for £400,000, and to maintain it for a further sum of
£34,000 per annum.
The entire scheme appears to have been honestly framed, and
the board is composed of men of practical experience. In a
commercial and political sense the importance of the work is
unquestionable.
One half the capital had been subscribed before the
issuing of the prospectus, and the remainder was obtained
immediately afterwards.
Messrs. Siemens's tender for the construction of the line
was sent in on the 27th of April, 1868; it was accepted
early in June, and the lines were completed by the 10th of
December, 1869.
174
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
The complete line from England to India, as worked by
the company, passes from London to Lowestoft, thence by
submarine cable to Norderney, then by Emden and Berlin
to Thorn on the eastern frontier of Prussia, and thence by
Messrs. Siemens's new line to Teheran, and so by the
Indian Government lines to all parts of India.
In order to give the company complete control over the
communication, the Prussian Government agreed that there
should be laid down, for their exclusive use, two additional
wires, with separate posts, and under separate management,
throughout their district, from Norderney to Thorn. By
this arrangement, therefore, the whole communication from
England to India is kept in British hands.
The entire line is shown on the Map. We are only here
concerned with that portion of it undertaken to be
constructed by Messrs. Siemens.
This, as already stated, was about 2750 miles long.
Commencing on the eastern frontier of the Prussian
dominion, it entered Poland, and passed eastwards through
Alexandrovna, Warsaw, and Jitomir, to Odessa. From
thence it was carried along the northern shore of the Black
Sea and the Crimea, by Kertch and Poti, and through
Circassia, to the Persian frontier at Djulfa, whence it pro-
ceeded by Tiflis and Tabriz to its terminus at Teheran.
In the course of the line were three submarine cables :
one, about a mile and a half long, to cross the river
Dnieper; a second, between II and 12 miles long, to cross
the Straits of Kertch; and a third submerged in the Black
Sea, east of the Crimea, between D'Juba and Scotcha.
This latter part of the line required much careful considera-
tion, and gave a great deal of anxiety. Werner, in one of
his multitudinous and voluminous letters to William on
the subject, 2nd Oct., 1867, gave a picturesque description
of the state of the case. He said:
70
30
15
15
30
45
60
75
!
LAPLAND
WITE SEA
60
50
40
O CE A
ICELAND
Atlantic
Cables
TLANTIC
BRITISHY
ISLES
Dublin
NOR
WED
Christianiag
Edinburgh
SEA
London
ALT
TIC
tockholm
Riga
St. Petersburg
Rönigsberg
Warsaw
RUSSIA
ENORTE
Copenhage
hort
Hamburg
eppool
Bremen Berlin
UR
GERMANY
twer Frankfort Vienna
est Paris
BAY OF FRANCE
BISCAY
Marseilles
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY'
• Berne
Belgrade
SERVIA
Venice
ITAL
ORSICARME
Madrid
Naples
ESARDINIA
SPAIN
Lisbon
M
PE
Odessa
CRIMEA Potis
ROUMANA
LACK SEA
BULGARIA
T
E. R
Constantinople
ESICILY
MEDITERRA
Tripoli
MALTA
NEAN
SEA
Xandr196
Gibran
Tunis
Algiers
30
20
15
A
LL
F
R
C
90
TURKESTAN
CASPIAN SEA
Tiflis
MAP
of the line of the
INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH
from ENGLAND to INDIA.
Shows the portion constructed by Messrs Siemens
the connecting Europeau lines in the Company's control.
the lines of the Government of India.
This symbol indicates Transmitting Stations.
BURM
A
AFGHANISTAN
Chittagong
Calcutta o
Kashmir
10
Delhi
Benares
Agra
IN
A
Madras
Tabris
Teheran
PERSIA
Ispahan
BELUCHI-
Hyderabado
STAN
Currachee
Bombay
E Y
Smyrna
Gwadar
Bagdad
under Abbas
"Aleppo
Bussorah
uscat
Bush
PERSIAN
RED
15
30
ARABIA
SE
Ader
45
DIAN
I N/D I AN
0
C E A
ECEYLON
Galle
75
60
Ruddiman Johnston & Co. Ld., LONDON, E.C.
CHAP. VI.] THE INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH.
175
At the end of this month you will have a visit from a Russian
engineer officer, who will bring you my card. He has, at the
instance of the Russian Government, examined accurately the
whole coast of the Black Sea.
According to him it is possible to reach by land with mules as
far as Anakspiga, about five miles northwards from Suchum
Kalais, and as far as that he considers a land line practicable,
but not a step further.
From thenceforward mountains, thousands of feet high, go
right to the sea, offering giddy perpendicular precipices, which
probably descend equally deep under the sea surface, and offer no
means of crossing them. If you desire to go from one valley to
another, you have to travel a couple of days, climbing inland,
and seeking a passage over the great Caucasian range.
It is, however, projected to make a road over those heights,
which perhaps may hereafter be useful to us. [The truth of this
anticipation will be seen in the sequel.]
In the meantime, it is certain that in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the coasts the sea has great depths. Near Poti,
where the harbour works have caused the locality to be well
examined, we have found three or four precipitous terraced
descents, the first about 100 feet high, the latter much higher.
The engineers who have sounded the Caspian Sea, have found
two great hollows, one on the Caucasian, and another on the
Persian coast, in the latter of which, at 6000 fathoms, no bottom
is found! And it is the general opinion of the Russian geologists
and engineers, that the Black Sea has similar formations, and
that, especially on the shores of the Caucasus, very great depths
exist.
I regret to say that all this seems to me very probable. Sound-
ing would be a long and very difficult work; we cannot measure
the colossal Caucasian formations with the puny measuring rods
we use !
This grave matter was subject to long discussions. The
land line, owing partly to the physical mountain difficulties
described, and partly to the fact of its passing through
wild districts uninhabited by civilized people, had to be
176
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
abandoned; and for a long time Messrs. Siemens hesitated
to take the responsibility of laying a submarine cable in
such a sea. However, the latter alternative seemed the
preferable one, and after more enquiry, William Siemens,
who was never wanting in enterprise, resolved to undertake
it, the operation of laying being performed under his own
personal superintendence.
The distance so to be traversed was 92 nautical miles;
and the cable contained three separate conductors of the
usual construction. The shore ends had a heavy sheathing
of galvanized iron wires, covered externally with tarred
jute, while the deep sea portion was armed by flexible
copper sheathing, capable of resisting permanently both
the attacks of the Teredo and corrosion by sea water.
The cable being ready, Mr. Siemens left London, accom-
panied as usual by his wife, on the 24th May, 1869. After
a few pleasant days spent in Berlin, they went on by
Vienna down the Danube to Pesth, thence to Rustchuk and
Varna, and by steamer on the Black Sea to Constanti-
nople. He wrote from there, dating the 17th June:-
I expect the cable ship on Saturday, and to start on Monday
next. We are highly pleased with Constantinople, which I learn
is much improved in cleanliness; but we have moved to-day out
to Therapia for freshness, and because we have found agreeable
friends here. The Ambassador, Sir Henry Elliott, and lady are
very kind, and much interested in the expedition. Yesterday
Carl and I dined with Halel Pasha à la Turque, which was very
amusing, and a most elaborate affair. My wife says she is very
happy, and very well, in which I concur.
They remained a fortnight in Constantinople, arranging
business matters, and waiting for the arrival of the ship
carrying the cable. On the 21st June they embarked on
board this ship, named the Hull, and had a pleasant
CHAP. VI.]
177
THE BLACK SEA CABLE.
voyage for four days, when, within a short distance of their
proposed landing-place, Poti, they were suddenly visited
by one of the terrific Black Sea storms, and suffered many
hours of tossing and suffering, after which they were enabled
to land, crossing the dangerous bar in a steam tug. Lady
Siemens's diary gives a graphic account of what she calls
that "God-forgotten place," where, she says, "frogs of enor-
mous size and mosquitos seem the principal inhabitants.”
She was dangerously ill there, but was carefully and
tenderly nursed by her husband.
Being now arrived near to the site for the cable, the
necessary preparations for submersion were made, the work
was put in hand, and on the 14th July Mr. Siemens had
the satisfaction of telegraphing to London the news of its
successful accomplishment.
This work being done, Mr. and Mrs. Siemens, accom-
panied by Carl and his son, went from Kertch in their
steamer to Yalta, where they landed and made an enjoy-
able excursion, passing Livadia, Orianda, and Aloupka
(the residence of Prince Woronzoff), and on through the
valley of Baidar, by Inkermann and Balaclava, to Sebas-
topol, which still lay all in ruins. From Sebastopol they
sailed to Odessa, then went on to Galatz, and embarked
there on a steamer bound for Vienna. On the 26th July
they were in Berlin, and on the 9th August they arrived
in London.
The change and the pleasure of the journey had been
beneficial to Mrs. Siemens, for, on her reaching home, her
husband wrote-
Anne is, I think, improved in health, but very thin, in conse-
quence of the great heat, and the discomfort of Eastern
travelling.
The whole line of telegraph on land was laid with iron
N
178
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
posts, special wire insulators, and every engineering and
scientific improvement of the day, in order to facilitate its
effective working.
The construction of the line involved great difficulties,
partly by physical obstacles, but chiefly by the fact of
the line passing through an uncommercial and unsettled
country, peopled in some parts by only semi-civilized
races.
In the first place, it was not an easy matter to get the
necessary apparatus delivered upon the ground. The
materials for the Persian portion of the line, consisting of
11,000 iron posts, 33,400 insulators, and 900 miles of wire
of large section, were shipped to St. Petersburg, whence
they were transported on the Neva and the Volga to
Astrakhan, and again shipped across the Caspian for Len-
koran, Astara, and Recht, the northern ports of Persia.
At these ports it was found difficult to get beasts of
burden to distribute the materials in the interior of the
country within the prescribed time.
Then when the materials were on the ground, their
fixing met with new obstacles of a strange and unusual
nature. The Circassians, who were often roaming about
armed, and who had but little respect for law and order,
used to find amusement in firing at the insulators, up-
setting the posts, and damaging the wires;—and until
they could be brought to good behaviour, the workmen
and inspectors were obliged often to work and go about
under a guard of Russian soldiers.
Then some curious difficulties were found from the
effects of great cold in winter, combined with some
peculiar conditions of moisture in the air. Occasionally
the wires would become surrounded with envelopes of
frozen dew, increasing to some inches in diameter, which
would weigh down the wires, or would break up into sepa-
CHAP. VI.] THE INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH.
179
rate beads, hanging like huge necklaces between the poles.
These conditions rendered necessary either extra strong
wires, or short bearings, where they were found likely to
occur.
Then there were other evils. At some periods large
numbers of the men were invalided by fever or other
diseases; and one of the best German members of the staff
died. There also occurred frequent quarrels with the
natives, sometimes carried to bloodshed;-in one instance
a good native servant was beheaded by swift native law,
on a groundless charge of shooting a villager.
But the good temper and spirit of the officers carried
them through their difficulties, which indeed they often
viewed on the amusing side. For example, one of the
staff stationed in Persia, wrote to William in February,
1869, as follows:-
The construction from Caswien forwards has given us much
amusement, although sometimes we have been near sticking deep
in the mire. We have had the opportunity of learning to ride,
though not altogether to the advantage of our lower garments;
for when I came here my inexpressibles were in three pieces!
But we have come out safe and sound, and have laughed more
than complained. Some days we stood with the labourers in the
snow, waiting for material; the men shivered and grumbled; so
we showed them how to make snow-balls, and then divided them
into two parties, and got up a great battle.
In the villages the people feigned a great respect for us, and
brought us presents, which we had to pay for dearly. They
would not work till we thrashed them, and they tried to cheat us
in every way. With the Persians it is always
66 to-morrow ;" and
to-morrow they have forgotten all they promised to-day.
Yesterday H. and T., with some other Europeans, rode out to
hunt hares, when H. fell into a hole thirty feet deep, and came
out with a black eye. I should explain that the Persians make
their water-conduits in a very peculiar way. They dig round
holes in the ground two to four feet in diameter, and so deep,
N 2
180
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
that water stands in them; they are laid out in a line, and then
tunnels are driven in the earth from one hole to the other, and
so the conduit is complete. It was into one of these holes that
H. fell. However, on the whole, there is much to be learnt here,
and I am very glad I came.
At the end of October the line was so far advanced
that attempts at speaking through to London were made,
and by the end of 1869, as already stated, the contract,
as regarded its essential work, was complete.
General Telegraphic Work.-Mr. Siemens took out several
patents during this decade, for improvements in the details
of electric apparatus, many of which were applied and used
in the operations of the firm. He also delivered two
important lectures on Deep Sea Telegraphs at the Royal
United Service Institution, one on the 23rd June, 1865, and
the other on the 5th of March in the following year. In
1867 he laid before the British Association a description
of a
new form of Electrical Resistance Measurer-of
remarkable practical utility for simplicity and cheapness of
construction, ease of manipulation, portability, and for its
being capable of employment with exactness by unskilled
and inexperienced operators.
Magneto-Electric Currents.-In 1867, the two brothers
brought out a most important scientific invention in the
domain of magnetic electricity, namely, the production of
powerful currents without the aid of permanent magnetism.
But as this invention, both in its nature and its results, is
inseparably bound up with the Dynamo-Electric Machine,
which only received its full development some years later,
it will be convenient to postpone further notice of it till
the next chapter.
CHAP. VI.]
181
DOMESTIC LIFE.
DOMESTIC LIFE.
As stated in the last chapter, Mr. Siemens on his
marriage went to reside at Twickenham. There he lived
very happily for some years. He was always fond of the
country, and he thoroughly enjoyed the pleasant freshness.
and quiet of his country home. The couple were always
ready to welcome their friends, but made no ostentatious
display.
Their principal pleasure was travelling. Indeed, for Mr.
Siemens it was almost a necessity to have frequent change
of scene. His business connexions and occupations re-
quired him to be frequently away from home, and he
generally contrived to combine his business journeys with
those of recreation, feeling keenly the delight of getting
away from the dark smoke of furnaces, and the busy hum
of electrical manufactures, to scenes of beauty and interest.
In August, 1860, he and his wife, accompanied by his
wife's sister, went on a trip to Germany. On the 3rd of
September, Werner and William attended a great meeting
at Coburg, the object of which was to strive to promote
German unity; they then joined the ladies at Kösen, greatly
excited at the success of the gathering, and wearing the
badge of the movement, Schwarz-roth-gold. On the 17th
they went to Dresden to visit Hans Siemens, and to see
his glass-works, in which the new regenerative gas furnace
was about to make such important and successful changes.
In August, 1862, he started with his wife for a long trip
in Germany and Austria. Trêves was full of interest for
him (having as yet never seen Roman antiquities in Italy).
Vienna was also visited, and from thence a beautiful tour
was made through Baden, over the wonderful Semmering
Railway into Styria. Here he visited the great Steel
Works of Meyer, and was naturally much interested in
182
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
the processes carried on there. They returned by Salz-
burg and the Salzkammergut, Dresden and Berlin.
Towards the middle of 1862 he found it necessary to
remove his residence to London. His business was so
extending that the loss of time in going backwards
and forwards between his house and his office became
a serious matter. Moreover, he was just contemplating
the establishment of the large Electrical Factory near
Woolwich, in a direction out of London diametrically
opposite to that of his residence. And further, duties
of different societies, scientific business, and social en-
gagements, so increased on him that he found the
distance from London hampered him in this particular
also. He was indeed reluctant to give up the charm-
ing locality of his Twickenham residence, which had
hitherto been such a delight to him;-but the business
considerations were imperative; and he hoped to com-
pensate himself by more frequent pleasure-trips to a greater
distance away.
Accordingly he took a house called Aubrey Lodge, on
Campden Hill, the highest point of Western London, and
within a stone's-throw of Holland Park. This situation
gave perhaps the maximum of fresh air and country
appearance that could be obtained within a short drive
of his office. Here he remained till 1870, and he soon
found the advantage of the change of residence, not only
in business facilities, but also in enabling him to increase
his social enjoyments.
Towards the end of this period, he indulged his hospit-
able inclinations by giving occasional receptions, as large as
his house would allow. These were full of life and interest:
science, art, literature, and the reunion of different nation-
alities always lent a brightness to them; and it need hardly
CHAP. VI.]
183
DOMESTIC LIFE.
be said that in all these entertainments and gatherings, his
wife was his prominent coadjutor.
The time saved from the daily railway journeys enabled
him to extend the range of his studies and occupations.
He now began to devote more attention to literary work.
As early as 1851 he had attempted English composition, in
the form of scientific and technical papers on subjects he
was engaged in, and several successful efforts of this kind
have been mentioned in former chapters. He increased
the number of these, improving them in form and style,
and offering them to circles of higher rank. During the
decade included in this chapter we find that he wrote no
less than twenty-two scientific memoirs, all which were
favourably received, and willingly published by the bodies
to whom they were presented. Many of them are noticed
elsewhere.
In some cases these were publicly read by the officers
of the Societies; but he more usually read them him-
self; for he was somewhat proud of the fuller knowledge
he had acquired of the English language, and by no means
hesitated to exhibit it when he had an opportunity.
In addition to these papers he was also induced frequently
to deliver lectures and addresses to smaller societies,
schools, and other institutions; sometimes reading them,
and at other times delivering them extempore. Many
of these, though acceptable enough to their hearers, were
not considered by Mr. Siemens important enough to pre-
serve. For example, on the 15th of April, 1861, he gave a
lecture in the City of London school, to gratify the wish of
Dr. Mortimer, then Head Master. No description of this,
or even mention of its subject, has been retained, but a
memorandum made at the time records that the boys were
delighted with the experiments made.
184
[CHAP. VI.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
The expeditions to the Mediterranean in 1863 and 1864,
ending so unfortunately, have been already noticed in their
proper place.
In the spring of 1866, he determined to indulge a desire
he had long entertained, namely, to see Italy. He left
with his wife in April; from Marseilles they drove along
the Riviera, taking ten days to see it thoroughly; from
Genoa they travelled to Pisa and Florence; and from
thence to Padua, Ferrara and Venice: returning by Trieste,
Vienna, Prague, Dresden, and Berlin. Here five of the
brothers, Werner, William, Frederick, Carl and Walter,
met together, and, as a listener remarked, the great
aspirations manifested in their intercourse, were astonish-
ing to hear!
Later on in this year, however, he had occasion to take a
holiday from a less pleasant motive. In the night of the
26th July, he was suddenly taken alarmingly ill; prompt
remedies restored him in some measure; but he was at
once sent away to Bonchurch in the Isle of Wight; a
pretty cottage was taken for him for a month, during
which time he was neither allowed to read nor write.
often spoke of this enforced rest as a happy one; he said
it was an easy life when he could get his wife to read and
write for him, adding that sometimes he found he could
trust her to do the thinking for him also.
On 11th August, Werner wrote to him :—
He
Your communication about your illness has really frightened me.
I hope rest and sea air will restore the old freshness; but you
must for the future spare yourself more, and take care against too
great exertion and excitement. About six years ago, when I was
about your age, I found my upper storey beginning to trouble me
("aufzumucken wie der Berliner sagt "). Since that time I have
been obliged to spare my head, and I feel nevertheless a consider-
able diminution of my mental energy and power of working. We
must draw in with advancing years!
CHAP. VI.]
185
DOMESTIC LIFE.
On his return home he stayed in London for a week or
two, but he was advised to complete his cure by a trip to
Scotland, and this so revived him that he returned full of
ambitious new ideas and schemes.
The Christmas holidays of 1866-7 he spent in Berlin,
meeting there Mr. and Mrs. Carl Siemens, from St. Peters-
burg, and Walter from the Caucasus. He then paid a
visit to his married sister in Lübeck, taking pleasure in
pointing out to his wife all the scenes of his youthful
school days.
In March 1867, Hans Siemens died, and William went
immediately to Dresden, to be present at the funeral, and
to advise with the family as to the carrying on of the large
glass-works which had been under the care of the deceased.
This resulted in the duty being taken by Frederick, in
whose hands it has since remained.
In the middle of the year he was frequently in Paris, on
the occasion of the Great Exhibition. The 30th of June
was the day of the "Grands Prix," presented by the
Emperor, a fête that went off with all due éclat.
In the middle of 1868, he had to mourn the untimely
death of his brother Walter, German Consul at Tiflis, and
agent in Persia for the Indo-European Telegraph. In the
autumn, after attending the British Association, he deter-
mined to take a good holiday in Switzerland. After
visiting his wife's brother, then residing on the Lake
of Geneva, he went to Chamouni, and ascended with
two guides to the Grands Mulets, the half-way resting
place in the ascent of Mont Blanc, his wife accom-
panying him as far as the "pierre pointue." He made
this ascent over the glaciers with his usual energy and
determination; but unaccustomed as he was to this
rough climbing, his exertion caused him fatigue and
suffering for some time afterwards. The journey was
186
[CHAP. V
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
continued by carriage and mules over the Tête Noire to
Martigny, and on to Leukerbad, crossing the Gemmi pass
by the Kanderthal to Thun, Berne, and Paris, and reaching
home on the 23rd September.
The long expedition in 1869 to the Black Sea, to lay
the Indo-European Cable, has already been described.
CHAPTER VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS-continued.
Age 47 to 56.
1870 to 1879.
Mr. Siemens's Position-Heat and Metallurgy-The Steel Manu-
facture-High Quality of the Steel-Supply to the Admiralty———
Production of Steel directly from the Ore-Electric Telegraphs-
China Cables-Indo-European Telegraph-Delay by Accidents
and Earthquake The Shah of Persia-The Direct Atlantic
Cable-The " Faraday" Cable Ship-Accidents in Laying-The
Brazilian Cable-Loss of the "La Plata "- Board of Trade
Enquiry The French Atlantic Cable-The Dynamo-Electric
Machine-History-The Siemens's Discoveries and Inventions—
Electric Lighting-Electric Transmission of Power-The Electric
Pyrometer-The Bathometer and Attraction Meter-The Deep
Sea Photometer-Armour Plating—Scientific Societies, Lectures
and Addresses-Domestic Life-Oxford Doctor's Degree—
Country House at Tunbridge Wells-Telegraph Conference.
TAKING a general view of Mr. Siemens's position at the
beginning of this period, we find that the results of his ten
years' practice since the time of his marriage and naturali-
zation had been eminently favourable to him.
The great heat invention, the Regenerative Gas Furnace,
had been successful beyond his most sanguine hopes; it
had not only acquired him great fame throughout the
world, but had proved a fortune to him of itself. Then
its latest outcome, the steel manufacture, was promising
great things. The new processes, invented and elaborated
by himself with his accustomed ingenuity and perseverance,
188
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
had been abundantly proved to be of the greatest value in
the economy of British industry;-and the manufactory he
had started for working the process offered at least fair
prospects, though they were not afterwards realized.
The electric business was also in a flourishing condition.
A large factory had been successfully established, in which
much profitable telegraphic work was being done; and
which admitted of very large contracts being undertaken.
Some of these were, by their nature, liable to much risk;
the first submarine work had been unfortunate, and other
worse disasters were in store ;-but the Indo-European
line had shown the capability of the proprietors and
managers for undertaking great works and for resolutely
battling with the difficulties inherent in them, and there
was no lack of confidence in entrusting important contracts
into the hands of the firm.
com-
Moreover, the branch of engineering which this manu-
facture represented was at this time of a peculiarly hopeful
character. The industrial use of electricity was
paratively a new thing, and was developing and increasing
at a rapid pace. The feasibility of carrying on instan-
taneous telegraphic communications across the widest
oceans had just been thoroughly established; new inven-
tions of importance were constantly arising, others of still
greater magnitude were looming in the distance, and no
one with any scientific knowledge, or with any commercial
foresight, could doubt that a great future was opening for
the application of this source of mechanical energy. And
if such a future did come, it was pretty clear that the
brothers Siemens-men not only thoroughly versed in the
science of electricity, but who had probably done more
in its practical use than any other individuals—must
come in for their full share of the benefit its application
would realize.
CHAP. VII.] POSITION AND PROSPECTS.
189
Then Mr. Siemens had by this time a high personal
reputation. He had, years before, been admitted to the
ordinary technical grades certifying to his scientific and
professional qualifications ;-but he had now advanced
beyond this to a standing implying special distinction.
He had shown, by practical proofs, his complete mastery
over the sciences with which he had to do,—and his views
and opinions commanded respect and deference. He
counted the most eminent men of science among his
intimate friends, and in his own professional circle he
received every mark of admiration and esteem.
Mr. Siemens, therefore, had every reason to be well
satisfied with his position;-and as, in the year 1860, he
had taken a new departure by increased activity in his
most promising occupations, so now in the year 1870,
having achieved a reputation and a competence, he de-
termined to take advantage of both.
And this he did in two ways. In the first place he
resolved to increase his social and personal enjoyments,
partly by mixing more freely in society;-partly by enter-
taining his friends and acquaintances in larger numbers
and in better style; and partly by stealing away more
time than he formerly could for his greatest delights, a
country life or foreign travel.
Then, secondly, he determined to take advantage of his
better position by devoting more time and attention to
matters which, though less profitable, were of a higher
mental order. He wished to cultivate more freely the
scientific views of his occupations;—to study scientific
processes, or to propose scientific inventions. And in
connexion with this he went more than formerly into
literary work: writing papers; giving lectures; attending
and taking part in scientific societies; and so on. These
190
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
were occupations that he had always liked, but in which
the inexorable demands of business had heretofore for-
bidden him to indulge so freely as he desired.
It must not, however, be inferred from this that he was
ever led to neglect his business or his practical work; or
to underrate the value of his own personal part in it. In
fact he had still plenty to do, and he did it conscientiously;
but having now thoroughly good and trustworthy coadjutors
and assistants, the strain of his personal attention became
less onerous than formerly.
He was still not freed from the uncertainties of com-
mercial business, and he was doomed to suffer some terrible
trials. But his old patience and endurance did not forsake
him, and he bore them nobly.
The subjects desirable to chronicle here, as engaging
Mr. Siemens's attention during these ten years, are, the
prosecution of the steel manufacture and other metal-
lurgical applications of the Regenerative Gas Furnace ;—
electric telegraphs, including submarine lines of great
magnitude;—and the application of powerful electric
currents to lighting and other uses. To these we must
add now, a special head for miscellaneous inventions of a
scientific nature; and another for his relations with
scientific societies, for lectures, addresses, and literary work
of various kinds.
This decade formed the most active period of his life, it
included the greatest amount and variety of important
work, it was fraught with the most stirring incidents, and
its record must necessarily occupy a considerable space in
his biography.
CHAP. VII.] THE STEEL MANUFACTURE.
191
HEAT AND METALLURGY.
The Steel Manufacture.
In the last chapter we had to chronicle the origin and
progress of Mr. Siemens's inventions for the production of
steel, culminating in the establishment of the works of the
"Siemens Steel Company," at Landore, for carrying on its
manufacture. At the commencement of the present period
these works had just come into operation, and Mr. Siemens
was much occupied in regard to them.
The quality of the steel made there was good, and the
demand for it was increasing. In July, 1870, more than
100 tons of steel rails per week were sent out, besides cast-
ings and forge steel; and in August, 1871, the works were
fully occupied, and had orders for some time in advance.
There was, therefore, every encouragement to enlarge the
establishment; an additional plot of land was taken, very
favourably situated, and new works of a more extended
character were laid out upon it, including not only the
steel-making plant, but blast furnaces to smelt the iron;
and the company also took collieries, to provide themselves
with coal.
It need hardly be said that Dr. Siemens used every
endeavour to make the works as perfect as possible, and to
introduce therein not only the best results of his past
experience, but every new improvement that his ingenuity
could devise. Money was not spared for buildings and
plant; and by the year 1873 the Landore Works were
making some 1000 tons of steel weekly, and had the
character of being the largest steel-making works in exist-
ence after those of Krupp, the Barrow Company, and one
great Sheffield firm.
Dr. Siemens was not, however, satisfied with turning out
192
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
a large quantity of steel; he wished to gain a special repu-
tation for excellence in quality. It had been a reproach to
some of the other new steel-making processes that, though
they could make steel in large quantities at a moderate
price, and though occasional samples might be very good,
yet the general quality could not be depended on, to such
an extent as to justify the use of the material in cases
where good and trustworthy properties were absolutely
necessary.
One of these cases was the use of steel for ship-building.
Naval architects had seen for some years the new metal
supplanting iron for rails, for machinery, and for many
other important purposes. It had been, moreover, clearly
proved that good steel was much stronger than iron of
equal size, and the opportunity of saving weight by its use
was very attractive. For this reason attempts had been
made to introduce steel for the construction of vessels; but
they were met by the difficulties as to trustworthiness in
quality, and the imperative demands of safety interfered
with the practice.
The merchant service, who were bound by Lloyd's Rules,
succeeded in getting some concessions in dimensions by
the use of steel under certain stringent conditions; but the
Government, more cautious on account of the increased
perils of war-ships, could not see their way clearly to a
similar policy. In 1864 the Admiralty instituted an elabo-
rate series of experiments on steel at Chatham Dockyard;
and the results were very remarkable. The material was
proved to be one-third stronger than iron when it fractured
fairly; but it had an erratic mode of breaking, which
showed the danger and uncertainty to which ships would
be exposed if constructed of this metal.
Years passed, and still the uncertainty remained. The
French, bolder than our builders, had adopted Bessemer
CHAP. VII.] THE STEEL MANUFACTURE.
193
steel in their ships of war; but their use of it was bound
up with such excessive precautionary measures, that our
Admiralty declined to be hampered by imitating them.
Such was the state of the question when, in the year
1875, Mr. (now Sir) Nathaniel Barnaby, C.B., Director of.
Naval Construction of the Royal Navy, read before the
Institution of Naval Architects a Paper on Iron and Steel
for Ship-building, at the close of which he said :-
The uncertainties and treacheries of Bessemer steel, in the form
of ship and boiler plates, are such that it requires all the care
which it has bestowed upon it at L'Orient to avoid failure. The
question we have to put to the steel makers is, What are our
prospects of obtaining a material which we can use without such
delicate manipulation, and so much fear and trembling? We
have gone on for years using iron plates which are a compound of
impure irons, of different and unknown qualities, welded together
imperfectly in the rolls. We want a perfectly coherent and
definitely carbonized bloom, or ingot, of which the rolls have only
to alter the form in order to make plates with qualities as regular
and precise as those of copper and gun metal, and we look to the
manufacturer for it.
I am ready, for my part, to go further than the French
architects have gone, and build the entire vessel, bottom plates
and all, of steel; but I know that at present the undertaking will
involve an immense amount of anxiety and care. We ought not
to be behind any other country in this matter, and it shall not be
my fault if we are.
This challenge could not fail to attract Dr. Siemens's
attention. He had already, as has been stated above,
long been aiming at excellence in quality, and he had
had, no doubt, shipbuilding purposes prominently in view.
What was wanted for this purpose, in plates or bars,
was a soft material, only slightly carburetted, or as it
was termed, “mild," in chemical composition; combining
O
194
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
the mechanical qualities of good tensile strength with high
ductility; and above all, which would be thoroughly
uniform and trustworthy.
He now took up the subject with increased energy and
determination; he conducted a series of experiments
lasting over some months, specially directed to the manu-
facture of plates and other forms needed in shipbuilding ;
and he succeeded in producing them in the quality he
desired. This being done, the representatives of the
Landore Works obtained an interview with Mr. Barnaby,
and explained to him that they were disposed to accept
his challenge.
The Admiralty considered their propositions, and after
the lapse of some months, devoted to the testing of speci-
mens of steel supplied by the most eminent firms in the
country, a contract was entered into between the Admiralty
and the Landore Company for the supply, by the latter, of
the plates, angles, and beams, to be used in the construction.
of two armed despatch vessels, the Iris and the Mercury,
to be built at Pembroke Dockyard.
These vessels differed in important particulars from
the ordinary heavily iron-plated ships, being designed
with the special object of securing lightness and speed.
To attain this end attention was naturally turned towards
the use of steel, and Mr. Barnaby was glad to accept
Dr. Siemens's offer. Each of the vessels was 300 feet long,
46 feet broad, and with a displacement of 3735 tons.
The steel was supplied, and was subjected to the most
stringent tests, fulfilling satisfactorily the required con-
ditions. A full account of these tests was given by Mr.
Riley, the manager of the Landore Works, in a paper "On
Steel for Shipbuilding as supplied to the Royal Navy,"
read at the Institution of Naval Architects on the 7th of
April, 1876.
CHAP. VII.] THE STEEL MANUFACTURE.
195
In speaking of this transaction at a subsequent time
(Report of 15 June, 1882), Mr. Barnaby said :-
The difficulties arising from defects, the anxiety, the labour
attending the investigation of the Inspectors' Reports, and the great
cost, induced us to recommend their lordships to authorize the
building of the Iris and Mercury of steel, of a quality not known
in the English market, but offered by Dr. Siemens in conformity
with our Specifications.
The Landore Works acquired great fame, and were
often visited by persons interested, such as the members of
the Scientific and Engineering Institutions, who sometimes
came in numerous parties. Dr. Siemens always received
such visitors in the most friendly way, and showed them
everything that was to be seen. In 1876, while the orders
for the Admiralty ships were in hand, the representative of
the Engineer journal visited the works, and descriptions
of them were published in that periodical of June 23rd and
30th, and July 7th. These may be referred to for a
general idea of the magnitude of the concern.
It is sad, now, to be obliged to speak of a reverse
side to the picture; but it must be said that notwith-
standing the fame of the Landore Company, and the
abundance of their orders, they had for some time, been
in anything but a prosperous condition, in a commercial
point of view. The enlargement and extension of the
works had been encouraged by the acknowledged
excellence of the manufacture, and the flourishing state of
the iron market in the early days of the concern. But
in after years, owing to the ruinous fall in prices, to diffi-
culties in the management, and to other causes, the pro-
perty became largely deteriorated in value, and the share-
holders had to submit to great losses, Dr. Siemens himself
(who made every self-sacrifice to carry on the works), being
the principal sufferer.
0 2
196
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
It is right, however, to add that this result was not in
the least respect due to any failure in the processes of
manufacture. The produce of the works was always kept
up of unexceptionable quality, the steel made there
bearing always a high character. It was supplied to some
of the best firms, and was used for the most important
purposes. Through all the financial troubles of the
Landore Company the production of high class steel from
their works never stopped, and it is carried on to the
present day.
The use of the Siemens and Siemens-Martin processes
has now largely extended, and the metal produced by
them has proved of excellent quality.
Sir William Siemens estimated that the quantity of steel
which had been made by his processes to the end of
1882, amounted to about 4,000,000 tons. The production
now, in Great Britain alone, is nearly 1,000,000 tons per
annum.
Production of Iron and Steel direct from the Ores.
When Mr. Siemens was first designing his steel-making
processes, he had conceived the possibility of carrying his
improvements further. In his own method the produce of
the blast-furnace formed the principal basis, being used
either as pig metal, or as puddled iron, or both. But he
expressed his belief that the direct conversion of ores into
iron and steel would ultimately be accomplished, and he
directed much attention to this object, which indeed formed
one of the chief subjects of experiment at the Birmingham
Sample Steel Works mentioned in the last chapter.
In 1866, he was in treaty with a Mr. Henderson of
Glasgow, for trying experiments on the reduction of certain
ores; he took out a patent in September of that year, and
CHAP. VII.] THE DIRECT STEEL PROCESS.
197
designed a furnace for Mr. Henderson according to his
plans.
In the steel-making patent of August, 1867, further
reference was made to this subject, and at the beginning of
1868 he had erected a new furnace for the purpose at
Birmingham.
In his lecture to the Chemical Society in 1868, he gave
some more detailed indication of his views. After de-
scribing the pig-iron process, he said :—
It would be unreasonable to expect steel of really high quality
in using those materials which are already contaminated in the
blast-furnace, and I am sanguine in the expectation of producing
cast-steel superior in quality and at a low cost directly from the
better description of ores. My experiments in this direction
extend over several years, and last year I sent to the French
Exhibition a few bars of steel produced from hæmatite ore which
had stood a high test in Kirkaldy's machine.
He then described, with some elaboration, the furnace
which he had contrived.
But he afterwards found the results unsatisfactory, and
he accordingly changed his plans. He took out further
patents in 1868 and 1869 for various modes of accomplish-
ing the object, particularly one in which a rotatory cylinder
was introduced, in conjunction, of course, with the Siemens
furnace, which played a prominent part in all these metal-
lurgical operations. He hoped to do great things with
this process at the Landore Works, for, writing in September,
1868, he said :—
Whatever happens, the ore arrangement must not be postponed,
because steel from the ore must be the Cheval de Bataille of the
new Company.
With this view, experiments were instituted at the Landore
Works, where a rotatory furnace was erected; but as he
198
[CHAP. VII
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
found that such experiments could not be satisfactorily
carried on without interfering with the business arrange-
ments there, he determined to resume them at the old
Sample Works at Birmingham. These experiments were
at once put in hand, under the charge of a relation, Mr.
Alexander Siemens (subsequently appointed one of his
executors), who had come to Dr. Siemens as a pupil some
years before. In March the process was in good trim, and
many visitors from Landore and other places called to see
its working. In April, some of the results were sent for
exhibition in London, together with a model of the new
furnace; and samples of the products were also sent to
Vienna. The experiments were carried on at Birmingham
more or less till the spring of 1874.
Meantime, in 1873, he had brought the subject forward
again prominently before two eminent bodies, viz., in another
lecture before the Chemical Society, the 20th March, and
in a paper given to the Iron and Steel Institute on the 20th
April. He described two modes of effecting his purpose, one
by means of a stationary and the other by means of a
rotative furnace chamber, the former being applicable
chiefly where comparatively rich ores were available, and
the latter for poorer ores.
The paper at the Iron and Steel Institute excited much
attention, and the subject was discussed at considerable
length by many of the best authorities in the iron trade,
who all admitted the great importance of the subject, and
expressed high appreciation of Mr. Siemens's labours.
Samples were exhibited of steel produced by the process, of
very high quality.
Encouraged by this success on a small scale, he ventured
upon some larger applications, the principal one of which
was made at Towcester, in the iron producing districts of
Northamptonshire. Three rotative furnaces were put up
•
CHAP. VII.] THE DIRECT STEEL PROCESS.
199
there, and the results were given at considerable length by
Dr. Siemens in another paper read before the Iron and Steel
Institute at Newcastle-on-Tyne the 17th of September, 1877.
These results showed that iron and steel of very high
quality could be produced by the direct process from the
ores then available, but the question still remained, at what
cost could this conversion be effected? and Dr. Siemens
was of opinion that the experimental works at Towcester
were not sufficiently complete to determine this question.
A long discussion followed Dr. Siemens's paper, in which
many eminent metallurgists and practical iron makers
took part. Mr. Bell, M.P., F.R.S. (now Sir Isaac Lowthian
Bell, Bart.) said :—
With regard to Dr. Siemens's paper, whatever might be its com-
mercial results, it was impossible to over-estimate the value of such
researches as those in which he had in recent times distinguished
himself; because whether they led to commercial success or not,
much was learnt in their prosecution, and thanks to his candour
the Institute might always count upon having laid before them, so
far as he was able to give it to them, a true exposition of the
circumstances attending those researches.
Mr. Bell afterwards said in a letter to Dr. Siemens,
12 November, 1878-
I am engaged on an examination into the various processes of
making iron, and among others that known as the "Direct." I
have been reading over again your two papers on your own work
in this direction, and have compared what you did with what I
have seen of Clay's, of Chenot's, and of Blair's. I must admit, on
closely-argued grounds, there are things which require careful
study to disprove, although, as you know, I have a kind of
instinctive opinion that the Blast Furnace will be difficult to
exterminate.
Dr. Siemens persevered for many years in his object, and
designed many inventions to promote it. Indeed, the
metallurgy of steel and iron was perhaps the most fruitful
200
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
subject of his inventions, for between 1863 and 1881 there
appear no less than twenty-seven patents which have this
object directly contained in their title, as well as many
others for furnaces and heating arrangements.
But Mr. Bell's instinct was right, for notwithstanding all
these inventions, it must, we fear, be admitted that the
direct iron and steel making processes never fairly passed
beyond their experimental stage; and what would have
been their future had their originator lived to carry on his
researches can now only be matter of speculation.
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS.
During the ten years comprised in this chapter, the
factory at Charlton was particularly active. In 1869 it
had been decided that Mr. Carl Siemens, after the death of
his wife, should come to London and take personal part in
directing the concerns of the firm, in which he had a large
monetary stake. The contracts increased considerably
both in number and in magnitude, and at Carl's urgent
instance the works were considerably enlarged from time
to time.
The firm executed much ordinary telegraph work, which
it is unnecessary here to specify, but some of their larger
contracts have to be mentioned on account of William's
connexion with them.
Indo-European Telegraph.
In the last chapter it was stated that this line of tele-
graph was essentially completed, according to the contract,
by the end of 1869. But some further arrangements had
to be made before the public could be allowed to use
it, and in the meanwhile some disasters occurred which
further retarded the formal opening. The circumstances
CHAP. VII. THE INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH.
201
that caused the delay are worthy of description, as they
may give an idea of the difficulties that had to be con-
tended with. We give them from the inspectors' reports
made at the time.
The maintenance of a considerable line of telegraphic
communication during the first twelve months of its
existence is always a task of some difficulty and disap-
pointment. The wires composing the lines, however care-
fully prepared, will betray hidden defects; the posts will
yield where the ground is treacherous; and the insulators
are liable to be wantonly destroyed by the mischievous
persons of any community where the telegraph is a
novelty. These difficulties had particularly to be ex-
pected in this case, and were guarded against by the
appointment of a considerable working staff of guards and
superintendents of the line.
There were other troubles of a different character,
and more difficult to be dealt with. At the beginning of
the year 1870, immediately after the completion of the
works, weather of extraordinary severity set in in Persia
and the South of Russia, beginning with sleet and heavy
falls of snow, and followed by intense cold, the thermometer
falling sometimes to 70° Fahr. below freezing point. The
wires, being weighted by a thick coating of sleet, were
drawn tight by the cold and broke in hard places, or at
defective joints.
These fractures, however, would not have been very
material but for other evils. In Eastern Russia, where the
stoppage occurred, the contractors had been required to
use a peculiar kind of insulator, which, though good
enough on European lines generally, did not suit very
rough climates and uncivilized inhabitants: they collected
the snow, which spoiled the insulation; and moreover
they were easily broken by stones mischievously thrown
202
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
at them by the natives. These had to be taken down and
changed for a more suitable pattern.
In the spring, when the weather became milder, the
line was got into order: after some preliminary trials,
at the beginning of April the direct communication
between London and Teheran, a distance of 3700 miles,
was declared open, and on the 12th of that month a party
of gentlemen interested in the undertaking met Mr.
Siemens at the London office in Telegraph Street, to test
the speed and efficiency of the service.
In this line use had been made of the Siemens system
of Relays, by means of five of which, messages could be
sent direct throughout this great distance (about one
seventh of the circumference of the globe) without re-
transmission by hand at any intermediate station. Major
Smith, of the Indian Government telegraphs at Teheran,
telegraphed: "What is your time?" He was answered
from London: "Eleven fifty. What is yours?" The
answer came: "Three twenty-seven P.M., as near as we can
say."
General Sir W. Baker, K.C.B., Member of the Council
of India, who was present, with the object of testing the
through communication with India, then sent at 12.45 P.M.
the following message: "Sir William Baker to Colonel
Robinson, Calcutta ; am delighted with working of Indo-
European line through to India." The answer from
Calcutta arrived at 1.50: "Calcutta, 7.7 P.M. Director of
Traffic to Sir William Baker, London. Thanks for your
message received in 28 minutes. Will send on to Colonel
Robinson." Other messages were sent with equal
success.
This trial being so satisfactory, preparations were
made for opening the line to public traffic. It was,
CHAP. VII.] THE INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH.
203
however, necessary to devote a month or two to the
improvement and regulation of the details, and all was
nearly ready when, on the 7th July, a most unexpected
calamity occurred, namely, the destruction of the land lines
in Georgia, and of the cable lines in the Black Sea, by an
earthquake. The land lines were thrown down, and the
wires torn asunder in many places; but this was the least
portion of the mischief, and could soon have been remedied.
The worst evil was the damage to the submarine cable east
of the Crimea. This had remained in excellent working
condition till the earthquake, which tore it asunder in two
places.
A steamer, furnished with all necessary appliances, was
immediately despatched from Kertch; but in endeavouring
to raise the cable it was found in one place to be covered
with earth, which could only be accounted for by a sub-
marine landslip having taken place. It was evident that,
to repair the line, more spare cable would be required
than was on board, and it was not possible to obtain a
fresh supply from England without causing great delay.
In the meantime, the objection to the land line had been
removed by the construction of a coast road under Russian
authority, which made the country around much more
secure. After carefully weighing all the circumstances, it
was decided to abandon the cable, and to substitute a land
line along the coast, which, by the friendly concurrence of
the Russian Government, was completed by the end of the
year. Messages passed again through the entire line on
the 1st January, 1871, and the public traffic commenced
upon it on the 31st of that month.
It need hardly be said that the occurrence of these mis-
fortunes, which not only brought disappointment and delay,
but threatened great pecuniary loss, caused Mr. Siemens
great anxiety during the whole of the year 1870. But in
204
[CHAP. VII
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
this case, as in the many troubles which had before befallen
him, he went steadily on working, hoping, and relying on
his own perseverance, and on the energy of his excellent
and loyal coadjutors in each country through which the
lines passed.
Since the opening the line has been regularly and suc-
cessfully worked, and although temporary interruptions are
unavoidable, especially in Southern Russia, where the line
is exposed to heavy storms, and to the accumulation in
winter of masses of ice on the wires, they have generally
been of short duration. It may also be added that, in a
commercial point of view, the Indo-European Company
has been one of the most flourishing of all the telegraph
undertakings.
The proprietors of the line have always held in high
esteem the services in regard to it rendered by Messrs.
Siemens. Independently of their successful construction of
such a long length of line in the face of such remarkable
difficulties, it was felt that the original conception of the
idea, and its carrying out into a practical shape, was in a
great measure due to them. They were undoubtedly the
chief agents in carrying through the agreements with the
various governments and other parties who had to be
propitiated or negotiated with. The elaboration of these
agreements, so as to satisfy all parties, and to obtain a
reasonable commercial result for the company, was from
first to last left with them.
All this required diplomatic work of no mean order;
and one of the principal directors of the company has said
to the author of this biography, "I have always regarded
this line of telegraph as a most remarkable achievement, and
I much question whether it could have been carried through
so successfully by any other parties than Messrs. Siemens."
CHAP. VII.] THE INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH.
205
In 1873, on the occasion of the visit of the Shah of
Persia to England, the apartments occupied by him were
placed in direct communication, through the Indo-
European telegraph, with his own residence. On the
night of his arrival, his first act was to pay a visit to
the room where the apparatus was placed, and in consul-
tation with his Grand Vizier, to communicate at once with
Teheran. Dr. Siemens was present, and had the honour
of an introduction to the Shah, who conversed for a long
time with him, and sat by the instrument;—deeply in-
terested, as sentence after sentence, flashed direct from his
capital, was received before his eyes, and transcribed by the
Grand Vizier for his perusal. Dr. Siemens was highly
complimented by the Shah on the great achievements of
his company, and the telegraph was used amply during his
stay. Long despatches passed daily in cipher on affairs of
state, and in addition to these a vast number of messages
were transmitted in French, on domestic matters; their
nature indicating that family feeling was as warm amongst
the Persians as amongst other people, and affording another
proof, if any were needed, that human nature is very much
the same all the world over.
The Shah did not forget the trouble that Dr. Siemens
had taken to serve him, nor were his compliments mere
form, for after his return to Persia Dr. Siemens received
the following letter, which may form an appropriate
conclusion to our history of the Indo-European Tele-
graph:-
MONSIEUR,-
LEGATION DE S. M. I. LE SCHAH DE PERSE,
À LONDRES, le 15 Octobre, 1875.
J'ai l'honneur de vous informer que Sa Majesté Im-
périal, le Schah, mon Auguste Maître, a daigné vous nommer
Officier de son Ordre Impérial du Lion et Soleil.
206
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
En vous communiquant cet avis officiel, je suis heureux de
pouvoir vous exprimer mes félicitations sincères ainsi que mes
sentiments très distingués.
À Monsieur le Dr. C. W. SIEMENS.
MALCOLM.
Direct Atlantic Cable.
At the beginning of 1873 the firm undertook their first
great submarine work, namely, the construction and laying
of a cable across the Atlantic.
This was for the "Direct United States Telegraph
Company." The prospectus was issued in March, 1873.
The capital was to be £1,300,000. The object was stated
to be "the establishment of direct and independent tele-
graphic communication between the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of
America." Dr. C. W. Siemens was named as the "Con-
sulting Director," and the Manager and Electrician was
Mr. G. Von Chauvin.
The line was to be 3060 nautical miles in length, to
extend from Ballinskellig Bay in Ireland, to Torbay in
Nova Scotia, from whence it was continued, also by sub-
marine cable, to Rye Beach in New Hampshire, there join-
ing the American land lines.
The term "Direct" was used because this line was the
first which, starting from the United Kingdom, gave
direct communication by submarine cable with the United
States; all the former cables ended on Canadian territory,
and reached the United States by land. It had to be of
greater length, and greater conducting power, than any one
previously laid.
The cable consisted, for the deep-sea portion, of copper
conductors, gutta-percha insulators, and a sheathing of
CHAP. VII.]
207
THE "FARADAY."
steel wires covered with hemp; the shallow-water part
consisted of similar conductors and insulators sheathed
with hemp, which in turn was covered with iron wire.
This work is noted as having given rise to the construc-
tion of a special steam vessel for laying the cable.
For the first Atlantic Cable the Great Eastern steam-
ship had been used, and others more or less suitable had
been employed for submarine work ;—it was not till 1872
that any vessel was specially built for the purpose, when
Hooper's Telegraph Company had their cable steamship,
the Hooper, constructed at Newcastle-on-Tyne. This
vessel had done good work; but Dr. Siemens, bringing to
bear on the subject the knowledge and experience he had
already gained, as well as the study he had made of the
Atlantic question some years before, conceived that the
requirements of the laying operation could not be efficiently
met by any existing type of vessel, and he resolved to design
one specially for the purpose.
The result was the production of a fine new steamship,
which, in compliment to the great electrical philosopher,
was named the Faraday. She was built by the firm of
Mitchell & Co., of Walker, Newcastle-on-Tyne. She was
commenced about the middle of 1873, and was launched
on the 17th of February, 1874, in the presence of a large
party, Mrs. Siemens performing the "christening" ceremony.
Dr. Siemens described the vessel in a lecture to the
Royal Institution on the 15th May, 1874; which is pub-
lished in their proceedings.
The steamer is about 5000 tons register, 360 feet long,
52 feet beam, and 36 feet deep. In her interior are three
enormous tanks, capable of stowing, under water, 1700
miles of cable. She is propelled by twin-screws so
arranged as to give great facility in manœuvring. She
208
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
is fitted with all proper machinery for laying and picking
up the cables; and for performing all other necessary
operations in regard to the work. A view of the ship is
given in the accompanying Plate.
The success of this ship, for the delicate and difficult
purposes she was intended to serve, was perfect, for she
proved herself capable of laying and lifting cables at all
depths, in all seasons, and in almost all weathers;-and it
has been well remarked that the design of such a vessel,
capable of doing what no other vessel afloat could do, by a
landsman, born in the interior of Europe, whose education
and pursuits had little or no connexion with nautical
affairs, was a striking example of practical genius of the
highest character.
In April the Faraday steamed from Newcastle to London,
Dr. Siemens being on board.
She sailed, to commence the laying of the Direct
Atlantic Cable, on the 16th May, 1874. The expedition
was in charge of Mr. Carl Siemens, and the manager
of the firm, Mr. Loeffler, was also on board. She carried
on this occasion the cable for the American sections
and shore ends. She arrived off the American coast early
in June, and was there joined by the Ambassador, a ship
also sent out by Messrs. Siemens to assist in the laying.
The work was much delayed by foggy weather; and on
the 2nd July there appeared in the Times the following
startling announcement, communicated by Reuter's tele-
grams:-
The steamer Faraday has struck on an iceberg off Halifax, and
is a total wreck.
The consternation caused by such an announcement
may well be imagined, but not a moment was lost;

[Page 208.
FARADAY
THE TELEGRAPH CABLE STEAMSHIP "FARADAY."
CHAP. VII.] THE DIRECT ATLANTIC CABLE.
209
Siemens sent telegraph
Messrs.
telegraph messages in all
directions to gather information. After some hours of
suspense impossible to describe, everything pointed to
the explanation that the rumour was
the rumour was a mere Stock
Exchange panic. Messrs. Siemens obtained the assur-
ance that the report was without foundation, and they
authoritatively announced this in the Times of the next
day. But not till news came, as it did soon afterwards,
from Carl Siemens, did the family feel relieved of the load
of anxiety. The Faraday arrived safely at Woolwich on
the 6th of August, having completed all the work she had
then to do.
On the 26th of August, 1874, she again left Charlton,
with the main cable on board, to be laid under the super-
intendence of Mr. Carl Siemens. She arrived at Ballin-
skellig Bay on 1st September, and having attached the
cable to the shore end, she commenced paying out on
the 6th September, accompanied by two tenders, the
Ambassador and the Dacia.
She had laid about 500 or 600 miles when Dr. Werner
Siemens, who was testing the cable from the shore at
Ballinskellig Bay, found that a very slight fault had passed
overboard. Hitherto it had not been customary to stop
operations for faults of so trifling a character, as being too
unimportant to interfere with the proper working of cables.
But the brothers were determined that this cable should be
as perfect as human skill could make it, and they therefore
agreed to haul back and cut out the fault. In doing this
the cable broke, but it was picked up again within 48 hours
in 2680 fathoms of water, successfully spliced, and the lay-
ing proceeded with. This picking up of the cable out of a
depth of nearly 3 miles is noteworthy, as being the first
time that such a feat was successfully accomplished.
Owing to severe weather, to the loss of grapnels which
P
210
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
had been broken in consequence of the rocky bottom upon
which operations were being carried on, and to the supply
of coal running short, the Faraday and her two tenders
were eventually obliged to put into Queenstown to effect
some repairs, and to obtain coals and supplies. William
Siemens visited them there on the 10th October, and the
Faraday left again on the 23rd.
The principle of eliminating even the smallest faults was
rigidly adhered to, although the completion of the cable
was much delayed thereby; but since it has been handed
over to the proprietors, it has proved to be one of the most
satisfactory cables ever laid, and its rate of transmission is
far superior to that of cables in which minute faults have
been allowed to remain.
The Brazilian Cable.
In 1874 the firm engaged in another large submarine
cable undertaking, which, though ultimately successful,
was attended in its progress by sad disasters.
It was a contract with the Brazil and River Plate Tele-
graph Company, for manufacturing and laying a telegraph
between Rio de Janeiro and the Coast of Uruguay, near
the Brazilian frontier, in all 1130 nautical miles of sea
cable, and 50 statute miles of land line. The cable was to
be laid between various points of the coast near Rio de
Janeiro, Santos, Santa Caterina, Rio Grande do Sul, and
the River Chuy on the coast of Uruguay, near the
Brazilian frontier. It consisted of seven copper wires
insulated with gutta percha, covered with jute yarn, and
sheathed with galvanized iron wire.
The steam-ship Gomos was sent out with a portion of
the cable and with stores and materials, to the Brazilian
CHAP. VII.]
211
THE BRAZILIAN CABLE.
coast. She laid successfully one of the sections of the
cable; but on the night of the 25th of May, 1874, she
struck on a sand-bar at Rio Grande do Sul, and became
a total wreck, losing about 204 nautical miles of
cable, which were still on board intended for another
section.
In November, 1874, another steamer, the La Plata, was
sent out with 184 nautical miles of cable, and materials, to
replace those lost in the Gomos; but three days after her
departure, on entering the Bay of Biscay, she foundered in
a violent gale, with the loss of fifty-eight lives. The story
is a very painful one, but on account of its great personal
interest to William Siemens, it is necessary to tell it some-
what fully.
The La Plata was a fine iron screw steamer of 968 tons
register, belonging to Mr. W. T. Henley, of London, and
she was chartered by Messrs. Siemens for this work. She
was "well found," as the term is, in every respect, and,
indeed, Messrs. Siemens (as will be mentioned hereafter)
added more to her provisions for safety than they were
bound to do. She was commanded by Captain J. H.
Dudden, an experienced seaman, in whom every confidence
was placed, and the cable was put on board and the ship
prepared for the voyage, under the direction and to the
satisfaction of the captain and his officers.
She left Gravesend on Thursday the 26th of November,
having seventy-five persons on board, including Mr. F. H.
Ricketts, who had charge of the expedition on behalf of
Messrs. Siemens. The weather was fair for the commence-
ment of the voyage, and she was off the Isle of Wight on
Friday morning, when the pilot left. She then steered for
Ushant, and towards Friday evening the wind began to
freshen; it kept increasing that night and all the next day,
P 2
212
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
until on Saturday night it was blowing a heavy gale. She
was then making for the Bay of Biscay under all steam,
but she was, as one of the men expressed it, “knocked
about like a cork;" the heavy seas washed over her, and
during the night two of the boats were carried away, and
one man was washed overboard from the wheel.
+
At daybreak on Sunday morning it was reported from
below that water was entering the engine-room, and as the
ship appeared now in serious danger, efforts were made to
lighten her by letting a portion of the cable run overboard;
but the leakage still increased and by 10 o'clock it had
extinguished the fires. The case then appearing hope-
less, preparations were made with the boats to leave the
ship.
What followed had better be given in the words of the
third engineer, one of the survivors. He said :-
I was down in the engine-room in the morning when the
water made its appearance. It rose so rapidly, that in a little
while I was up to my waist, and the fires were extinguished.
Then I went on deck, and the scene there was fearful. It was
clear that the ship could not be saved; but Captain Dudden
ordered all of us to keep to our duty, and to work the pumps to
the last. We did, but it was of no use; the water got so high,
that the ship began to settle down, and then there was a rush to
the boats.
It was dreadful to see the crew then. We had five boats to
begin with; but two had been carried away during the night, and
one had been stove in. Eleven others and myself jumped into
one boat. There was Mr. Dicks, the chief engineer, standing by,
and I begged of him to come with us. He said, "Oh, never
mind me, old chap; it will be all right bye and bye." He would
not come, though I begged and prayed of him to do so. At last
I had to part with him, and I said, "If you are saved, and I am
drowned, you'll carry a message to my wife, won't you?" He
smiled, and said, “If I am drowned, and you are saved, you'll do
the same by me." He was drowned, poor fellow, and so I have
CHAP. VII.]
213
THE BRAZILIAN CABLE.
to take his message. One of the foremen, who was on my watch
had his son-in-law with him. When he saw that the ship was
settling down, he said to his son-in-law, "George, my lad, here's
a pretty thing!-there'll be our two widows in one house at
home before morning!" This was terrible hard to bear, so I
said to the old man, "Don't give up: trust to God, and our lives
may be saved yet." It was awfully impressive to see how the
poor chaps that could not get into the boats behaved; but the
captain was as brave and cool as if nothing was the matter.
had said he would not desert his ship, and he did not.
down with her. Most of the officers did the same.
In our boat we got on very well.
ship until we were
and round her.
minutes to one.
He
He went
We pulled away from the
at a safe distance, and then we rowed round
I saw her go down; that was at twenty-five
She had been settling down some minutes, and
then all at once she went down stern first. It was a fearful sight.
She had burst her decks before foundering, and was in a terrible
state. The captain was still at his post, looking quiet and calm,
and I think he waved us a good-bye as the ship went down.
There was a fearful screech from the men on board-such a cry
as I hope I may never hear again. We picked up two boys and
a man, but could not save any more. The other boat capsized
before she was long in the water, and those who were in her were
drowned.
When we came to look at how we were fixed, we found that we
had in our boat fifteen persons in all, and that we had nothing to
eat except a Dutch cheese of about 6 lbs., a few biscuits, and a
bottle containing a pint and a quarter of gin. One of the sailors,
Thomas Clarkson, was appointed commander, and to him we owe
our lives. He saved us from death by his skilful management.
We could not tell where we were going, but allowed ourselves to
drift on between the high waves that rose around us.
It was a
fearful night. I was on my knees all the while baling water out
of the boat, and I wished I might be drowned, my sufferings were
so terrible. Some of the others were even worse with fever and
thirst. I used to hear them cry out "Oh my God, what would I
not give for a drink of water!" There was plenty of sea-water,
but they only drank that when they became reckless, and it made
them mad.
J
214
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
All through the night we were dashed about, and were saved
God knows how; we saw a large steamer before us, and shouted
with all the strength we could, but she could not hear us, and
bore away. We had no lights, but she had, and that was the
reason we could see her and she could not see us, so we had to go
on as best we could till morning, and then, God be thanked, there
came relief. We sighted a vessel right before us, and shouted like
mad. We hoisted an oar with a handkerchief tied to it, and at
last the ship discovered us. It was well she did, for most of us
were at the last pinch, and were lying helpless at the bottom of
the boat. The vessel was the Gare Loch, full of emigrants, and
commanded by Captain Greenwood, one of the kindest and most
Christian gentlemen I ever knew. He took us on board and first
gave us a little water, then we had some brandy and water, then
brandy, and after that some biscuit and soup. The emigrants,
though they were very poor themselves, made a collection for us.
Shortly after picking up the men the Gare Loch hailed
the Antenor, one of the Ocean Steam-ship screw steamers,
which was sailing from Gibraltar to England, and had
herself suffered from the bad weather. The captain took
the poor creatures on board, except one who was too ill to
be moved, and they arrived in London on the 2nd of
December. They described their sufferings as very severe,
and some of them seemed bereft of reason. The descrip-
tion given by the passengers of the Antenor, was said
vividly to recall some of the most striking passages in
Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, and there is no doubt that
in those few days there was compressed a lifetime of
horror.
:
The men saved by the Gare Loch were three engineers,
two stewards, nine seamen and a boy. The news of the
disaster, which thus reached London for the first time on
the 2nd December, caused great excitement; and
Messrs. Siemens took instant action. The catastrophe
CHAP. VII.]
THE BRAZILIAN CABLE.
215
had happened near Ushant, and they at once announced
in the Times that they had telegraphed to Brest, and that
a French Government steamer had gone out to search for
survivors. They followed by sending out a personal agent,
but on the 5th they reported that the steamer had returned
to Brest unsuccessful.
It was fortunate, however, that the locality of the wreck
was just in the track of vessels going to and from the
Channel, and three days after the foundering of the La
Plata, two more of the crew, the boatswain, Lamont, and
the quartermaster, Hooper, were picked up on a raft in the
Bay. Their story, even more fearful and dramatic than
that of the other men, was as follows:
They were in one of the lost boats, and were washed into the
water by a heavy sea; they had just risen to the surface when the
ship took her final plunge, and they were drawn down again by
the suction. After coming up the second time, they saw floating
close to them one of the air-rafts, damaged, which they contrived
to get hold of. This raft was made of indiarubber, in compart-
ments filled with air and joined by a canvas band, forming a seat.
Seated on this band, they were in a sort of trough, and the water
came up to their waists, their bodies below getting gradually
benumbed. Their only hope of escaping a lingering death lay in
their being observed by some passing ship, and the chance seemed
very small indeed, for to any ship not passing quite close they
would have been only visible with a telescope when just on the
crest of a wave. The sea was continually washing over them, and
unless they had been men of strong vitality and sound physique,
they could hardly have lived through the three days until their
final rescue.
During the Sunday, the first day of their suffering, they could
only discover one passing ship, and she was much too far off
to see them. On Monday there was a strong breeze, with a nasty
sea, but the weather was fine. Several ships passed at a distance;
but by none of them could they hope to be seen. Tuesday was
calm during the greater part of the day, and their hopes were
216
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
raised by seeing a three-masted schooner passing within half a mile
of them. They shouted with all their might, but the cry of
distress was not heard, the speck on the wave was not seen, and
the schooner sailed on. Towards Tuesday evening the breeze
freshened, and it continued to blow hard during the night. The
men were exhausted, and in the conflict between wearied nature
and the hope of life they sank into a state between sleeping and
waking, dozing for a minute or two, and then suddenly starting
again into consciousness.
About four on Wednesday morning, the one who was in his
waking moments saw through the darkness the loom of a vessel
bearing down upon them, and immediately roused his companion.
The vessel rapidly approached, and came within 100 yards of
them. With all the strength that was left in them they again put
forth their cry for help, and after a few seconds' interval, a bright
light told them that it had been heard. For two hours the light
burnt like a beacon of safety before their eyes, but just before
dawn it disappeared, and when day broke no ship was anywhere
to be seen. Hope was fast giving way to despair, when about
two hours after daylight the missing vessel bore down toward
them. This was the Dutch schooner Wilhelm Blenkelszoon. The
master, Captain J. van Dorp, when he heard the cry, had im-
mediately brought his ship up, and lay-to till the morning. In
the meantime the air-raft had drifted to leeward. When the
Dutchman found at daybreak that nothing could be seen, he
conjectured from the force and direction of the wind the point to
which any floating wreck or boat would have drifted, and he hove
down in that direction.
But now another difficulty occurred. The sea was running so
high that the master of the little schooner dared neither to lower
a boat nor bring his vessel alongside. He feared that in the first
case he might uselessly sacrifice his own men, and that in the
last case his vessel would swamp the raft. He therefore beckoned
to the two men to quit the raft and swim to the schooner.
Thoroughly exhausted by their three days' exposure, they mis-
trusted their powers of swimming even this short distance; but it
was their only hope. Lamont, the boatswain, first made the
attempt, and succeeded in getting alongside. Meantime the
schooner and the raft had again separated, and the former made
CHAP. VII.]
217
THE BRAZILIAN CABLE.
another tack to give Hooper a chance. He was still more
exhausted than Lamont, but thinking it was no worse to be
drowned between the raft and the ship than be left to perish on
the raft, he made the desperate effort, and struck out for the
schooner. But when he got alongside his hands were too
benumbed even to clutch the rope held out to him, and he took
it between his teeth. The little schooner was low in the water,
and some of the crew leaning over and watching their opportunity,
caught him by the hands and pulled him on board.
The men were unable to stand, and almost dead from exposure
and want of food, for it was then close upon noon on Wednesday,
and they had eaten nothing since the previous Saturday evening.
But they were brought round by the kindness and tender care of
Captain van Dorp and his crew, which were such as to merit the
highest praise. They were taken to the Civil Hospital at
Gibraltar, when they were conveyed to Southampton by the
P. and O. steamer Cathay, arriving there on the 24th December.
Their names had been published as among those who perished;
and they must have been considered by their families as having
risen from the dead.
The number saved was thus increased to seventeen.
The number lost were fifty-eight, among whom were
the captain, the surgeon, three officers, and the whole of
Messrs. Siemens's cable staff, including the chief of the
expedition, Mr. Ricketts, and six skilled assistants accom-
panying him.
The disaster caused some public excitement; and it was
difficult to understand. Gales in the Bay of Biscay were
common enough, but they were usually weathered safely
by good and well-managed ships, and the question arose
whether anything could have been amiss with the La Plata.
It was just at the time of Mr. Plimsoll's well-known agita-
tion; this increased the uneasiness, and reports were even
circulated to the prejudice of the owners and charterers,
that the vessel had been noticed to be improperly laden as
218
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
she passed down the Thames. These reports were imme-
diately enquired into by the Board of Trade at the instance
of Messrs. Siemens, and were publicly proved to be without
the slightest foundation. But this was not enough; it was
necessary, as a public measure, that the usual official en-
quiry should be made into the circumstances and causes
of the catastrophe, and this was encouraged by the parties
interested, who undertook to give every help in their
power.
The enquiry took place under the auspices of the Board
of Trade shortly afterwards. It was held publicly at
Greenwich, by Mr. Balguy, a police magistrate, assisted
by Captain Oates and Captain Pryce, as nautical assessors,
and by Mr. Traill, chief surveyor of the Board of Trade, as
engineering assessor; and all parties interested were repre-
sented before the Court. The investigation began on the
19th of January and lasted for 11 days.
The evidence was taken of all the best men among the
survivors, as well as of other persons connected with the
ship, and of several professional nautical experts. Dr.
Siemens was examined and gave full explanations as to
the part taken by his firm in the provision and fitting out
of the ship, and the arrangement of her lading, which had
all been done under the direction and to the perfect satis-
faction of the captain and his officers. He said he had
voluntarily increased the means of safety and comfort;—
he had provided an extra life-boat, and had added two life-
rafts, and Mr. Ricketts had taken out a third as an experi-
He had also increased the number of the crew, and
added a doctor, and in short he had done all in his power
to make the expedition safe and successful.
ment.
The Report was issued the beginning of March. Mr.
Balguy gave his opinion—
CHAP. VII.]
219
THE BRAZILIAN CABLE
(1.) That the La Plata, when she left Gravesend, was a strong
ship, and in a seaworthy condition.
(2.) She was not overladen, and her cargo was properly stowed.
(3.) She was in proper trim.
The Assessors differed from the magistrate in some par-
ticulars and made a separate report. They said :—
(1.) We have come to the conclusion that the La Plata was in
every way seaworthy when she left the Thames, so far as her hull,
machinery, and equipment were concerned; we think therefore
that both owners and charterers ought to be exonerated on that
score; also so far as Messrs, Siemens & Co. were concerned,
these gentlemen, as an act of forethought and humanity, actually
supplied three life-rafts and forty life-belts at their own expense in
the event of a casualty arising when they might have been of
service. (2.) We are decidedly of opinion that the La Plata was
not overloaded, but we do think that the trim of 4ft. 6in. by the stern
when loaded would be liable to increase her danger under certain
contingencies, such as running before a violent gale or being
pressed against a heavy head-sea. We are of opinion that a trim
of 3ft. 6in. by the stern would have been more prudent, and would
have covered all the difficulties raised by the evidence.
It will be seen, therefore, that all the judges agreed in
exonerating Messrs. Siemens from blame; for in regard to
the trim, in which they differed, it was clearly stated in
evidence that Messrs. Siemens had no control over it, but
that it was determined entirely by the captain of the vessel.
The immediate cause of the disaster was judged to be
the entrance of water into the engine-room; it was at first
thought that a leak arose from some damage to the hull
when the boat-davits were carried away, but this was dis-
proved. No sufficient cause for the leakage could be
shown, and there was reason to believe that it arose
from some derangement of the water-passages connected
with the engine, which it was quite within the power of the
220
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
"
engineers to control. The magistrate, therefore, expressed
his opinion"that the disaster originated in the stoke hole;
-the assessors, going into more detail, agreed that there
was "gross negligence in the engine-room department,
and they also attributed mismanagement to the captain.
The evidence, however, was conflicting, and many of the
facts were obscure.
The Queen manifested the deepest sympathy for the
sufferers, and directed special enquiries to be made after
the widow of Captain Dudden, who, it was reported,
behaved with the greatest courage.
Besides providing for the widows and families of the
principal members of their own staff who had been lost,
Messrs. Siemens gave £500 to the public fund raised in
aid of the widows and orphans of the men lost in the ship.
Similar sums were given by Mr. Henley and by Messrs.
Grant Bros. (from whom the contract for the cable was
obtained), and the total of the fund was raised to about
£4650, which was distributed by a committee formed
principally of officials of Messrs. Siemens and Mr. Henley.
Among the assistants drowned was Mr. David King, son
of the Rev. David King (of Glasgow, and afterwards of
London), and nephew of Sir William Thomson. The
following letter was from his brother:-
C. W. SIEMENS, ESQ., F.R.S.
MY DEAR SIR,
40, BARK PLACE, BAYSWATER,
March 24, 1875.
I have called at your house several times in order to
thank you personally and on behalf of my father and mother for
all you did in trying to rescue those lost in the La Plata. I have,
however, been unfortunate in always finding you from home, and
rather than put off longer, I resort to the much less satisfactory
CHAP. VII.]
221
THE BRAZILIAN CABLE.
method of writing. Although your efforts were unavailing to save
us from a very heavy bereavement, you none the less have our
most heartfelt gratitude.
*
*
*
*
*
Hoping that both yourself and Mrs. Siemens are well,
I remain, yours faithfully,
GEO. KING.
Another letter, from a friend of one of the sufferers, may
also be given to show that the sympathy of Dr. Siemens
was duly appreciated.
MY DEAR SIR,
April 7, 1875.
On behalf of the brother and sister, and on my own
behalf, accept the best thanks that grateful hearts can offer for
your generous help in the past, and your most kind promise in the
future. It has already added greatly to the comfort of those who
have had a very heavy burden to bear, and it will materially add
to the happiness of the survivors.
Might I suggest that it would save you some trouble if you
thought well to give your banker instructions to pay your very
kind contribution to my credit with Messrs.
in future?
Your present, cheque will enable them to meet necessary expenses
and give them a few days at the sea-side, so you may judge what
reason they have to bless you.
C. W. SIEMENS, ESQ.
Dr. Siemens felt this calamity very deeply: it aged him
perceptibly, and its effects on him were visible for years
afterwards. Indeed, it is doubtful whether he ever re-
gained the bright buoyant spirits he had before the
catastrophe.
In February, 1875, a third ship, the Ambassador, was
sent out, and successfully completed the enterprise of
laying the Brazilian cable.
222
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
It may be mentioned, in connection with this work, that
in 1871, the Emperor of the Brazils had visited England.
He took much interest in the scientific and mechanical
institutions of the country, and he inspected many of the
most important manufactories. Dr. Siemens was intro-
duced to His Majesty in July, 1871, and took him to see
the works at Charlton, showing him the whole operations
of the manufacture. The Emperor did not forget this, for
it led to Dr. Siemens's receiving afterwards the following
letter:-
SIR,
BRAZILIAN LEGATION, LONDON,
March 29, 1873.
I have the honour to inclose herewith the Imperial
letter by which His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, my august
Sovereign, has been graciously pleased to appoint you a Com-
mander of His Imperial Order of the Rose.
Permit me to avail myself of this opportunity to offer you my
sincere congratulations and the assurance of my highest considera-
tion.
C. WILLIAM SIEMENS, ESQ.
PEREIRA DE Andrada.
P.S.-The respective Insignia will be forwarded to you as soon
as it may be possible.
""
After the telegraphs were laid His Majesty conferred a
further honour on Dr. Siemens, creating him a "Dignitario
of the same Order, in February, 1876.
French Atlantic Cable.
In 1879, the firm made and laid a second Atlantic cable,
from Brest, via St. Pierre Miguelon, to Cape Cod in Mas-
sachusetts, about 2250 nautical miles long.
This was for the Compagnie Française du Telegraphe de
Paris à New York. Many pourparlers had taken place
CHAP. VII.]
223
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
previously, even as early as 1876, about a proposed cable;
but when at length it was decided on, the parties were in a
great hurry to have it finished, and the most remarkable
feature of the contract undertaken by Messrs. Siemens was
the short time in which it was completed.
The order was given by the French company in March,
1879. The manufacture of the cable was finished by the
18th June, when the Faraday left Woolwich with it on
board, for the laying, under the charge of Mr. Loeffler ;
and the main cable was handed over to the proprietors, in
perfect working order, on the 26th October, 1879.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING AND POWER.
It was during this period that the firm of Siemens.
Brothers took up what ultimately became a very large
branch of their business, namely, the manufacture of appa-
ratus for producing and utilizing the more powerful effects
of electricity.
The telegraph work, important and difficult as it was,
particularly in its submarine circuits, involved only slight
electrical action, generated by batteries of comparatively
small power, with currents travelling along wires of very
minute diameter, and with only just energy enough to give
movement to delicately poised needles. The invention lay
in so guiding and conducting this faint power as to render
its application certain and convenient in use; the produc-
tion of great motive force formed no part of the need, and
the batteries, though the sources of action, constituted gene-
rally only a subordinate part of the consideration.
As the scientific and practical acquaintance with this
"great power in Nature" advanced, it was seen that new
and highly advantageous applications of it were possible,
which required as their essential element great accumu-
224
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
lations of the electric energy; and the carrying out of
these into industrial practice gave rise to problems of
altogether a new kind.
The chief practical novelty was electric lighting, which
required provisions of the acting force of a magnitude
altogether beyond the small means used in telegraphy, and
of a nature to require new modes of production. In the
development of these the brothers Siemens took a very
important and prominent share, and it may, therefore,
be interesting to give here a brief abstract of the chief
facts relating to the change.
The appreciation of the powerful physical effects
producible by the electric current must have been
coeval with the discovery of electricity itself, or at least
with the time when its identification with the natural
phenomena of a thunderstorm was proved. In particular,
the brilliancy of its light was implied in the word "light-
ning," and the "spark" of the first artificial discharge was
an "electric light" in the truest sense.
But the duration of the light produced in this way was
almost infinitesimally short. Powerful and brilliant indeed
it was, the flash illuminating objects to a degree far beyond
that of any artificial light known; but a light enduring
but a fraction of a second was of little use to anybody. It
was only when Volta, in 1800, made his immortal discovery
of the pile, producing a steady flowing permanent current
of electricity, that any hope of utility could be obtained.
As soon as this discovery was taken up by scientific
men, both the light and the heat obtainable by the Voltaic
circuit attracted marked attention. A Mr. Children, with a
CHAP. VII.]
225
FARADAY'S DISCOVERIES.
battery exceeding in strength all its predecessors, fused
platinum wires 18 inches long, while points of charcoal
produced a light "so vivid that the sunshine compared
with it appeared feeble." Such effects reached their cul-
mination when, in 1808, Davy produced at the Royal
Institution, with a battery of 2000 pairs of plates, calorific
and luminous effects far transcending anything previously
observed.
Here, therefore, was the electric light in full existence.
nearly three quarters of a century ago. Its applications to
practical purposes suggested themselves at the outset. The
mechanical arrangements offered no great difficulty; but
the obstacle to the use of the light was the great cost of
producing the current. The zinc was too expensive a fuel
to be generally used, and hence the electric light as given
by the Voltaic battery was little more than a philosophical
toy.
The step which altered this state of things was made.
by Faraday, who, in 1831,* pointed out a new source for
the electric current in the action of magnetism.
It had already been observed that there were some rela-
tions between magnetism and electricity. In 1820 Oersted
remarked that an electric current would deflect a magnetic
needle; and in the same year Arago discovered that an
electric current could impart magnetic properties to a bar
of iron or steel. Here was electricity producing magnetism;
but there had been no evidence of the converse effect, i.e.,
of magnetism producing electricity; and so far as we
know there had been no suspicion that such an effect
was possible, in any mind save one-that of Faraday.
* Paper read before the Royal Society, November 24, 1831, and
published in the Philosophical Transactions.
Q
226
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
His wonderful intuitive perception of philosophical truths
told him that this ought to be. He said at a later time,
describing his earlier views:-
It appeared very extraordinary that, as every electric current
was accompanied by a corresponding intensity of magnetic action
at right angles to the current, good conductors of electricity when
placed within the sphere of this action should not have any
current induced through them, or some sensible equivalent in
force to such a current.
These considerations, with their consequence, the hope of
obtaining electricity from ordinary magnetism, have stimulated me
at various times to investigate experimentally the inductive effect
of electric currents. I lately arrived at positive results, and had
my hopes fulfilled.
Dr. Siemens stated, no doubt on personal information
given him, that Faraday had formed his expectation as
early as 1824, judging by à priori reasoning, but that
seven years elapsed before he could detect the truth of
his prophecy with the instruments then at his command.
His paper of 1831, now become classical, was divided
into four sections; the one which contained the discovery
was entitled "Evolution of Electricity from Magnetism."
It contained descriptions of many experiments all bearing
on the subject; but it will suffice here to mention two,
which gave the results in the most striking form.
In paragraph thirty-nine he showed that when a per-
manent bar magnet was suddenly inserted into the centre
of a cylindrical coil of insulated wire, it caused a cur-
rent to circulate in the wire. But this effect was only
momentary; that is, it lasted just as long as the magnet
was in motion within the coil, and ceased when the motion
ceased. When the magnet bar was suddenly withdrawn
from the coil, another current was set up in the wire, its
direction being the reverse of the former one. In this
CHAP. VII.]
227
FARADAY'S DISCOVERIES.
case, also, the current was only produced while the
magnet was in motion. The effects were not great, but
they could be increased by accumulated action on the
repetition of the motions.
In paragraph thirty-six, Faraday described a somewhat
different experiment, but still tending in the same direction.
He formed an armature to a horse-shoe magnet by a bar
of soft iron, part of which was covered with a coil of copper
insulated wire. When he forcibly broke the contact between
the armature and the magnet, a current was momentarily
set up in the wire, but it stopped when the armature was at
rest. When he re-made the contact, another momentary
current was similarly set up in a contrary direction. The
effects produced were feeble, but they were quite positive
and characteristic, and Faraday remarked :-
The various experiments of this section prove, I think, most
completely the production of electricity from ordinary magnetism.
That its intensity should be very feeble and quantity small cannot
be considered wonderful, when it is remembered that like thermo-
electricity it is evolved entirely within the substance of metals
retaining all their conducting power. But an agent which is
conducted along metallic wires in the manner described, which,
whilst so passing possesses the peculiar magnetic actions and
force of a current of electricity; which can agitate and convulse
the limbs of a frog, and which, finally, can produce a spark by its
discharge, can only be electricity.
The similarity of action, almost amounting to identity, between
common magnets and either electro-magnets or volta-electric
currents . . . furnishes powerful reasons for believing that thy
action is the same in both cases; but as a distinction in language
is still necessary, I propose to call the agency thus exerted by
ordinary magnets, magneto-electric or magnelectric induction.
In giving a public account of Faraday's discovery,
Dr. Siemens, with his usual partiality for illustrating
general natural laws, took hold of the fact that the pro-
Q 2
228
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS,
duction of the electric currents in each case was con-
comitant and correlative with the expenditure of mechanical
force. In thrusting the bar magnet into the centre of
the coil, or in withdrawing it therefrom, a resistance was
encountered analogous to that felt when a piece of iron
was manipulated near a magnet. And in the other case of
the severance of the armature from the magnet, Dr. Siemens
remarked that the current produced thereby was the direct
outcome of the mechanical force used to detach the
armature.
He also explained that the single current resulting from
the forcible severance of an armature from its magnet was
capable, if diverted through the coils of another armature
in contact with its own magnet, of effecting the severance
of this second armature; and that the force originally
expended in severing the first armature bore a definite
relation to that applied to moving the second armature.
Hence in viewing this experiment by the light of the
principle of the "conservation of energy," and the "cor-
relation of forces," it was demonstrated that mechanical
force could be converted into electric current, and that
electric current could be converted back into mechanical
force, at pleasure; the quantitative relations between the
two being, moreover, capable of exact definition. This
simple fact formed the foundation of the whole of the
splendid development of dynamic electricity which has
taken place of late years.
Accordingly, now, when more ample provisions of electric
agency were demanded than could be furnished by Volta's
chemical changes, they were sought in Faraday's appli-
cation of mechanical power. This was obtainable, from
various quarters, such as muscular action, water, or steam,
in any required amounts, at a very cheap cost; and all
that was wanted was to invent, and to bring into practical
CHAP. VII.]
229
FARADAY'S DISCOVERIES.
and useful shape, the means for its conversion into corres-
ponding large quantities of electricity.
The currents produced by Faraday were, as he himself
remarked, very feeble, and only instantaneous in their
action. But it was clear that this apparent disadvantage
could be easily remedied; for by repeating the mechanical
actions by suitable arrangements, a rapid succession, and
a consequent aggregation of these currents could be pro-
duced so that if these were sent continuously through
a metallic conductor, all the phenomena of a continuous
current would be obtainable, with the condition also of
¡reat magnitude and power. Dr. Siemens illustrated this
very aptly by saying:-
:
The single current revealed by Faraday's original experiment
might be likened to the single drop of rain, which, though im-
puissant by itself, was, when repeated often enough in its fall on
an elevated plateau, capable of giving rise to streamlets and
streams, until at last a mighty river, and a source of power, such
as the Falls of Niagara, might be produced.
When Dr. Siemens lectured at the Institution of Civil
Engineers in 1883 (a few months before his death), on the
electrical transmission of power, he exhibited the identical
original magnet and coil that Faraday had used in 1831,
when communicating his discovery to the audience at the
Royal Institution. He said :-
When Faraday saw the spark [indicating the production of the
electric current], and was able to show it to his audience, it was a
red-letter day in his existence, and he even then thought it would
be a point of departure of some importance, because he said on
that occasion, "Although this spark is very small, so that you can
hardly perceive it, others will follow who will make this power
available for very important purposes."
And so it has indeed proved.
230
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
No sooner was Faraday's discovery published than many
attempts were made to magnify his induced currents so as
to bring them into practical use. Faraday had foreseen
that such attempts would be made, but he chose to leave
them in the hands of the mechanician. He wrote in 1831:
"I have rather been desirous of discovering new facts and
new relations dependent on magneto-electric induction,
than of exalting the force of those already obtained;
being assured that the latter would find their full develop-
ment hereafter."
The utilization of the induced current, was, however, a
work of much time and thought on the part of those who
followed in the wake of the great discoverer. The develop-
ment was aimed at by Pixii, Clarke, Saxton and others,
who caused magnets to rotate near coils of wire, or coils of
wire surrounding iron cores to rotate near the poles of
powerful steel magnets. The presence of the iron cores, as
shown by Faraday, greatly intensified the action.
The invention was chiefly used for telegraphic work, one
of the most practical applications being made by Wheat-
stone in 1844, when he brought out his magneto-electric
step-by-step instrument. But, notwithstanding the great
ingenuity displayed in its design and construction, the
current induced was found practically insufficient to
produce the effect desired.
The first successful application of the magneto-electric
machine in a powerful form was for lighting; and this
came about in rather a curious indirect way. There
had been a great stir about the Drummond light, pro-
duced by burning oxygen and hydrogen on lime. Many
inventors had tried to obtain it cheaply, and in 1853,
Nollet, a clever mechanician, constructed a powerful mag-
neto-electric machine to produce the gases by the decom-
CHAP. VII.]
231
SIEMENS'S ARMATURE.
position of water. The experiment failed, but the machine
was seized upon by Professor Holmes, who tried to apply
its current directly to the production of light. He worked
perseveringly some years, improving it and augmenting its
power, till it was finally able to yield a light equal to that
of the voltaic battery; and on the 8th of December, 1858,
the electric light was experimentally shown on the sea,
for the first time, from the Lighthouse on the South
Foreland.
But in the meantime the Siemens's had entered on
the field of labour. An important step towards aggre-
gating magneto-electric currents was made in 1856 by Dr.
Werner Siemens, who constructed an armature resembling
in section the letter H, into the hollows of which the
insulated wires were wound longitudinally. It was then
mounted on bearings so as to be able to rotate about its
longitudinal axis, and was placed between the north and
south poles of a number of permanent horse-shoe magnets,
ranged in a line. When, therefore, a rapid rotation was
given to the armature an accumulative effect was produced
through the simultaneous action of each permanent magnet
in generating a current in one and the same coil; thus a
succession of currents was set up, which when directed by
means of a commutator" into an outer metallic circuit,
furnished a continuous current of considerable power.
(6
This was a very valuable invention, for on account of the
small space that it occupied in revolving, it could be kept
in an intense magnetic field produced by small magnets;
and its cylindrical form was eminently adapted for rapid
rotation.
This armature was adopted and largely used by Siemens
and Halske in their magneto-electric machines, particularly
in one which they called a Zeiger, an alphabetical indicat-
232
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
ing instrument. In 1865 it happened that a machine of
some kind, in which this armature was used, was being
prepared by the firm for exhibition in Paris, and Werner
in experimenting with it was struck with its great capa-
bility. He said, in a letter to William (probably about the
middle of that year, the exact date is lost) :-
I have been for some days occupied with the trials of the large
dynamo-electric inductor. I must lay down a special foundation
for it, for it cannot be fixed firmly enough in the workshop. It
appears to effect its object, but our engine is too weak to exhibit
its full power. It is a pity that it goes to Paris too late for the
visit of the potentates, but I will send it off in a week, and
rely on your help for its exhibition. There must be a special
steam-engine allotted to it in the Prussian department. It is
remarkable what a great power is required fully to develop the
electric current !
When the merits of this improvement became known, it
was made use of to further the solution of the problem of
lighthouse illumination. Following up the experiment at
the South Foreland in 1858, the Trinity House consulted
Faraday, who encouraged them to proceed. Professor
Holmes gladly availed himself of the Siemens armature,
and, persevering in his own efforts to improve his machine,
he attained such success that in June, 1862, the electric
light was permanently established at Dungeness, where it
shone for thirteen years. Further lights were afterwards
established at South Point in 1871, at the South Foreland
in 1873, and in several places abroad.
In 1866 another inventor, Mr. Wilde, of Manchester, took
advantage of the Siemens invention to construct a very
powerful apparatus. He used a Siemens permanent-
magnet machine to furnish the current to excite the
electric magnets of a larger one, also constructed with a
Siemens armature, the smaller machine being provided
CHAP. VII.] THE SIEMENS DISCOVERY.
233
with a commutator, so as to give a current of constant
direction.
Both Wilde's and Holmes's machines marked a farther
step forward, by the adaptation of steam power to work
them. Their capabilities had reached so far that the
force necessary to excite and accumulate the currents was
more than hand labour could supply, and the substitution
of mechanical working at once gave increased power and
greater economy.
But now came out the great discovery by the brothers
Siemens, alluded to on page 180, namely, the principle of
electro-magnetic augmentation and maintenance of a current
without the aid of steel or other permanent magnets.
The first mention of this appears to have been in a letter
from Werner to William, dated 4th December, 1866. He
said-
I have had a new idea, which, in all probability, will succeed,
and will give important results.
As you well know, Wilde has taken a patent in England con-
sisting in the combination of a magnet-inductor of my construction
with a second one which has a large electro-magnet instead of the
steel magnet. The magnet-inductor as constructed in our alpha-
betical telegraph instruments magnetises the electro-magnet to a
higher degree than can be obtained by steel magnets. The
second inductor will therefore give much more powerful currents
than if it had steel magnets. The action ought to be colossal, as
is stated in Dingler's Journal.
But now, clearly, the magnet-inductor with steel magnets may
be entirely dispensed with. If we take an electro-magnetic
machine, which is so constructed that the stationary magnet is an
electro-magnet with a constant polar direction, while the current
of the moveable magnet is changed; and if we insert a small
battery which will thus work the apparatus, and now turn the
machine in the contrary direction, the current must increase. The
battery may be excluded and removed, without stopping the
234
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
action. It is, in other words, a Holz's machine, used for electro-
magnetism.
We may thereby, with the sole aid of wire-coilings and soft
iron, transform power into current, if only the impulse is given.
This giving of the impulse, which determines the direction of the
current, may also be effected by the magnetism which remains
behind, or by a pair of steel magnets which continually give to
the nucleus a slight magnetism.
The effect must, with a proper construction, be colossal. The
thing is very capable of development, and may form a new era in
magneto-electricity. In a few days an apparatus will be ready.
Magneto-electricity will by this means become cheap, and
electric-lighting, galvano-metallurgy, and even small electro-mag-
netic machines, receiving their power from larger ones, may
become possible, and useful.
It appears that previously to this* William and his
brother had been engaged in a discussion as to the dyna-
mical principle of the convertibility of natural forces, and
probably the experiments mentioned by Werner may have
been prompted by this discussion. At any rate William
immediately appreciated the importance of the discovery,
and he determined to go over to Berlin and see the expe-
riments for himself. He accordingly left London on the
15th December, arriving at Berlin on the 19th. The two
brothers then carried on further trials together, and these
were so satisfactory that Werner invited Professors Dove,
Magnus, Du Bois-Reymond, and several other of the
leading physicists of Berlin to witness the experiments.
This inspection took place before Christmas, 1866.
There was thus no doubt of the value of this discovery,
both in a scientific and in a practical point of view. It
was decided that as a scientific matter it should be laid
* See letter from Mr. Wm. Siemens, published in Engineering,
November 2, 1877.
CHAP. VII.] THE SIEMENS DISCOVERY.
235
before the Academy of Berlin and the Royal Society of
London, while to carry out its practical advantages, William
should protect it by an English patent.
He returned to London early in January, and on the
15th of that month Werner wrote to him further as
follows:-
The description of the new electro-dynamic inductor for the
Royal Society shall be sent you to-morrow. On Thursday
Magnus will bring it forward in the Academy.
It is successful beyond expectation, even in small dimensions.
By it the question of exploders (for mines and quarries) is already
practically solved. It will be a most important thing. A man
can hardly turn by force an inductor of quite small size as used in
our alphabetical instruments if it is closed without resistance.
On the 17th he wrote:-
I now send you a press copy of the notice read in the Academy.
The thing will really be very important.
The little apparatus, the size of a small armature as used in the
Zeiger, when given only one turn of the crank, sets itself, by the
weak remaining magnetism, when the coils are short circuited,
in such strong activity, that the crank can only be moved further
with difficulty.
If, after one turn, the short circuit is interrupted mechanically,
we get, in a circuit of greater resistance, such strong currents that
six English cartridges can be fired with certainty. The question
of exploding cartridges is thereby perfectly disposed of.
On the 2nd February he again wrote:—
The alteration in the great inductor lately communicated to you
has produced but little change. Although now not the least
friction is present, a considerable power is due to the turning of the
inductor, and the magnet armature quickly becomes warm, i.e.,
the iron, not the wires. The current does not become so strong
as to heat these, because the machine, when short circuited,
either stops still, or makes the driving-bands slip on their pulleys.
236
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
The armature is turned three to four times per second, and this
gives a current which will make an iron wire, eighteen inches long
and one millimetre thick, bright red hot.
On the 13th February he further said :—
The action is remarkably striking, even with small machines.
When open we can turn without perceptible resistance, but when
closed, the resistance increases after a few turns to the limit of
possibility. If then the short current is suddenly interrupted, we
get, in a large field, a very lively spark, which is suitable for
exploding.
He described many useful applications he had in view.
The communication to the Royal Society was made by
William on the 4th February, and was read at the meeting
on 14th February, 1867. It formed the now classical paper
"On the conversion of Dynamical into Electrical force
without the aid of Permanent Magnetism." The author
said:-
Since the great discovery of magnetic electricity by Faraday in
1830, electricians have had recourse to mechanical force for the
production of their most powerful effects; but the power of the
magneto-electrical machine seems to depend in an equal measure
upon the force expended, on the one hand, and upon permanent
magnetism on the other.
"An experiment, however, has been lately suggested to me by
my brother, Dr. Werner Siemens, of Berlin, which proves that
permanent magnetism is not requisite in order to convert
mechanical into electrical force; and the result obtained by this
experiment is remarkable, not only because it demonstrates this
hitherto unrecognised fact, but also because it provides a simple
means of producing very powerful electrical effects."
He then gave a description of the simple electrical
arrangement employed, which was a modification of the
original Siemens armature; and he exhibited a machine in
CHAP. VII.] THE SIEMENS DISCOVERY.
237
which it was carried out. In describing its action he
said:
"On imparting rotation to the armature of such an arrangement,
the mechanical resistance is found to increase rapidly, to such an
extent that either the driving-strap commences to slip, or the
insulated wires, constituting the coils, are heated to the extent of
igniting their silk covering. It is thus possible to produce
mechanically the most powerful electrical or calorific effects
without the aid of steel magnets, which are open to the objection
of losing their permanent magnetism in use."
It is singular that the same idea occurred about the
same time to two other eminent electricians-Professor
Wheatstone and Mr. Alfred Varley. Professor Wheatstone
communicated it to the meeting of the Royal Society on
the same day as Mr. Siemens, and Mr. Varley had in the
previous December applied for a patent, depositing a “pro-
visional specification"—a sealed document-in which it
was embodied. In fact, the discovery seems to have been,
as the saying is, "in the air;" and there is no good reason
to impugn the honesty of the claim of each of the three
parties to its independent discovery.*
Many letters on this subject will be found in Engineering
for October and November, 1877.
The patent for the invention was dated 31st January,
* Dr. Tyndall, in his lecture on the electric light at the Royal
Institution, January 17, 1879, makes the following remarks on this
point :-
"A paper on the same subject by Dr. Werner Siemens was read on
the 17th of January, 1867, before the Academy of Sciences in Berlin.
In a letter to Engineering, No. 622, p. 45, Mr. Robert Sabine states
that Professor Wheatstone's machine was constructed by Mr. Stroh
in the months of July and August, 1866. I do not doubt Mr. Sabine's
statement; still it would be dangerous in the highest degree to depart
from the canon, in asserting which Faraday was specially strenuous,
that the date of a discovery is the date of its publication."
238
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
1867 (No. 261), and was fully specified in due course. The
title was for-
Improved methods for developing powerful electrical currents
and discharges, principally applicable to the production of lights
at sea, and in apparatus for determining electrical resistances in
connection with such and other currents. (Partly a communi-
cation from Werner Siemens, of Berlin.)
The nature of the invention was thus described in the
first claim :-
Developing powerful electric currents in electro-magnetic ap-
paratus by causing the poles of a rotating electro-magnet or
keeper to be forcibly approached successively to the similar
poles, and forcibly severed from the dissimilar poles of stationary
electro-magnets or coils, the currents being directed by means of
a commutator or of current-changers, so as to produce the above
effect, and thereby cause an accumulation of magnetism and of
the currents produced by the apparatus.
The application to marine lights is mentioned as
follows:-
•
Lighthouses have in some cases been illuminated by means of
electric lamps. . . As the powerful batteries, such as would be
requisite for these electric lamps, are exceedingly perishable and
expensive to maintain, magneto-electrical machines have been
employed for producing the requisite electric currents; but
even these machines are apt to lose their efficiency, owing to a
gradual decrease of the permanent magnetism of the steel bars
employed. The present invention consists, firstly in obtaining
powerful electric currents without the aid either of large batteries
or of permanent magnets by the following method.
This method is then described, and the patent also goes
on to state how lights may be transmitted through wires
to lights, beacons, and buoys out at sea.
Such was the great discovery; the abolition of perma-
nent or steel magnets, and the substitution of electro-
CHAP. VII.] THE SIEMENS DISCOVERY.
239
magnets excited by the current produced by the rotation.
of the helix or armature of the machine itself. Considering
the great importance of this invention as bearing on the
applications of electricity on a large scale, it may be well
to explain its nature and advantages somewhat more fully.
The machines which induced their electric currents from
"permanent" magnets had several drawbacks. In the first
place, their power was limited by the comparatively feeble
intensity of magnetization of the steel magnets, which was,
at the best, far inferior to that of electro magnets; and,
further, the so-called "permanence" of magnetization was
only a name, all steel magnets losing a percentage of their
magnetism every year. Hence it followed that the power
of a machine depending on their inductive influence must
be continually diminishing, until the magnets had to be
renewed or re-magnetized. Moreover, as Werner Siemens
truly pointed out, the effect of the machines did not
increase with their dimensions; to get great power it would
be necessary to use disproportionately large masses of iron,
steel, and wire, and the machine would become too cum-
brous and costly.
The new discovery of the "reaction principle of magneti-
zation" consisted essentially of using the residual or inhe-
rent magnetism of the iron coil of the electro magnet (and
which all iron possesses more or less) for inducing in the
coils of the revolving armature a feeble current, which, by
being carried round the coils of the original magnets, was
sufficient, feeble as it was, slightly to increase their magnetic
intensity. This increase of magnetism reacted on the coils
of the armature, producing a still stronger current, which,
in its turn, again increased the intensity of the electro-
magnets. Action and reaction thus went on between the
electro magnets and the armature, until, in a few seconds,
the magnets were charged to their point of saturation. With
240
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
this arrangement a moderate-sized machine would produce,
through the accumulation action, effects of great magnitude,
strictly proportionate to the mechanical power employed.
Werner Siemens proposed to apply the term magneto-
electric to machines in which the original steel magnets
were used, and dynamo-electric to those where the current
was produced by power alone; a nomenclature which is
come into general use.
The immediate result of this discovery was the produc-
tion of one of the most wonderful of modern instruments,
the DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINE, or as it is now more
briefly called the Dynamo. It is, as its name (combining
the word dúvaμis, power) implies, an instrument which is
founded on the relations between power and electricity.
If mechanical agency be applied to it in the form of
muscular force, or water or steam power, the machine will
convert this into its proper equivalent (minus certain
necessary losses) of energy in the shape of an electric
current; or, by a reverse operation, if an electric current be
introduced into it, it may be changed into a corresponding
equivalent of mechanical power, which will do work that
might be done by muscles, or by water, or by steam.
The Berlin firm endeavoured, without loss of time, to
put the new invention to practical use for the purpose of
lighting. In a letter from Werner to William, dated
10th July, 1868, he said :—
This evening we shall make further lighting experiments with
the dynamo-electric machine in the artillery practising ground.
With the last trials the apparatus illuminated a target at 2500
paces distance so clearly that it could be aimed at with muskets,
and was struck by nine shots out of ten. To-night we shall fire
with big guns at an object electrically illuminated. We shall also
try the electrical distance-measurer, which promises well.
CHAP. VII.] THE HEFNER-ALTENECK MACHINE. 241
In England also Mr. Holmes, at the instance of the
Trinity House, endeavoured to turn the new discovery to
account for the illumination of lighthouses. In the spring
of 1869 he had constructed a machine which exhibited
extraordinary power, and produced a light of great splen-
dour. But it was still hampered by defects, and, as a
matter of safety, the magneto-electric machine was still
adhered to for lighthouse purposes.
In 1872 Dr. Siemens brought out some improvements,
communicated by Werner, having to do with the arrange-
ment and motions of "coils suspended in a magnetic
field." But a much more important invention was patented
a year afterwards, June 5, 1873. This was entitled,
Improvements in Apparatus for producing and regulating
electric currents, such apparatus being particularly appli-
cable to electric lighting."
66
It was stated to be " a communication from Dr. Werner
Siemens, and Friedrich von Hefner-Alteneck." The latter
named gentleman, who is a well-known scientific engineer
in Berlin, appears to have had the chief share in the
invention; and the machine, as subsequently made, was
called indiscriminately either the "New Siemens," or the
"Hefner-Alteneck" machine.
The object of the invention was to increase the power
and capability of the dynamo, by a skilful combination of
several elements, founded on the original Siemens invention.
It has been briefly described as a "suggestion for the
mode of connexion between the coils of a multiple-coil
Siemens armature." The principal claim of the patent
is for-
The use of apparatus for producing electric currents by the
application of mechanical force, in which apparatus a shell coiled
R
242
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
longitudinally with insulating conducting wires on its outside is
made to revolve in the annular space between fixed external
magnetic poles or polar extensions and a fixed internal cylinder
of iron, which may be independently magnetized.
*
This invention completed the essential structure of the
Siemens dynamo-electric apparatus, and it has been well
remarked by a high authority that the evolution of this
splendid machine from their rudimentary armature of a
quarter of a century ago is one of the most beautiful pro-
ducts of inventive genius, and is more like to the growth of
a flower than to almost anything else in the way of
mechanism made by man.
In this notice we have mentioned only the forms of
dynamo with which Messrs. Siemens have had to do; but
many other forms of the machine for producing large
electric currents have been contrived by other inventors
and manufacturers, some of them of high merit, and
much used. Among these are those of M. Gramme,
the Brush Company, the Gulcher, the Crompton, the
Gordon, the Edison, the Hopkinson, the Sawyer, and many
others.
Such is the dynamo-electric machine. Its chief applica-
tion is to electric lighting, which may be now briefly
explained.
The production of the light depends on some local
resistance offered to the passage of the electric current at
a given point of its circuit, the effect of which is to expend
the energy in the production of light and heat.
The light is produced, for practical purposes, in two ways.
In the first place, Davy showed in 1810 that the greatest local
resistance, and the highest degree of heat and luminosity,
* Sir William Thomson, “Nature," Nov. 29, 1883.
CHAP. VII.]
243
ELECTRIC LAMPS.
were produced when the electric current passed between
two carbon points. When these are placed a short distance
apart, the current will cross the space; but as the air is a
bad conductor, the break so formed offers great resist-
ance to the passage of the current, great heat is produced,
and a luminous band of light, of great brilliancy, is formed
there. The light is caused partly by the incandescence
of the carbon points themselves, and partly by the volati-
lization of a small portion of the carbon, which flies across
in the state of intensely heated vapour. This luminous
band, from its sometimes assuming a curved form, is called
the Voltaic Arc; and lights formed on this principle are
called Arc lights.
The carbons must be made to keep their points at the
required distance apart, and as they become consumed,
they are usually made to approach each other by clock-
work machinery. But the regulation of the electric arc to
meet the varying conditions of the current and the carbons,
has been, and still is, a matter of practical difficulty, and
much ingenuity has been displayed in devising electric
lamps and electric candles, so as to produce a steady
action.
Arc lights may be made very powerful-one light some-
times representing the power of thousands of candles.
They are therefore specially suitable for large spaces, where
great delicacy of illumination is not required. A light
equal to a thousand or more candles can be obtained by
the expenditure, on the dynamo, of one horse power.
The other form of electric light is called the Incan-
descent or Glow-lamp.
To form this there is no break in the circuit, but there is
inserted in it a length of some material so thin as to have
a much diminished power of conducting the current, the
consequence being that this length becomes so highly
R 2
244
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
heated as to produce light. A small wire or ribbon of
platinum or other metal will produce this effect, as will
also a very thin filament of carbon, which is the substance
commonly used. But if such a filament were highly heated
in the open air it would at once be burnt up and
destroyed; and to prevent this it is inclosed in a small
glass globe exhausted of air by a mercury pump.*
Electric glow-lamps are usually made to give a light
equal to that of an ordinary gas-burner, say from 10 to 50
candle-power, but sometimes go higher. The light is soft
and agreeable, and much better suited for domestic pur-
poses than the glare of the arc light. But it is much more
expensive, seeing that one horse-power applied to the
dynamo will only produce a light of about 160 candles
instead of 1000 as with the arc. Dr. Siemens has explained
that glow lights could never rival the arc in economy of
result, because the intensity of the latter could be made to
approach that of solar light, whereas glow lights are
limited in intensity to the fusing or dispersing point of the
conductor employed. Moreover, the lamps are somewhat
expensive to maintain, as the carbon filaments wear out
and fail, and the globes often leak, or burst, by the
pressure of the atmosphere.
From what has been said it will be seen that the electric
light is no novelty: the interest attaching to it at the pre-
sent time is entirely due to the comparatively cheap rate
at which the electric current can be produced in the dy-
namo, by the expenditure of cheap mechanical power,
instead of, as formerly, by the more expensive consump-
tion of zinc in the galvanic battery.
* As early as 1845 a Mr. King took out a patent for rendering
incandescent, by the electric current, a carbon rod placed in a mercurial
vacuum. It was intended for submarine illuminations, and for the
safe lighting of coal mines.
CHAP. VII.]
245
LIGHTHOUSES.
The practical use of the dynamo was taken up by the
brothers Siemens in London as soon as it had acquired
importance. The machine which Mr. Siemens exhibited
at the Royal Society in February, 1867, was made at the
Chariton works, and the firm made afterwards some at-
tempts to apply the invention to marine lights, as described
in the patent; but these had no permanent result.
Similar machines were afterwards tried, during some
years, for other purposes, the most successful being the one
indicated in Werner's earliest letters, namely, that of pro-
ducing the explosion of mines by electrical ignition. But
the action of the machine was found imperfect from the
heating of the iron in the armature, and it was not till
after the production of the "New Siemens" machine that
the dynamo may be said to have established its full
merits.
After the patenting of this machine in 1873, the Charlton
firm devoted themselves earnestly to its practical use, and
its first great success was obtained by its application to the
problem of the illumination of lighthouses.
The lights hitherto established at Dungeness and else-
where had all been produced by the magneto-electric
machines. The Trinity House had not yet used the
dynamo form, but when its superiority became known
they turned their attention to it.
They desired to place a very powerful light on the Lizard
Point, and before deciding how this light should be pro-
duced, they determined to make a careful inquiry as to the
comparative merits of the various machines available.
At the loan collection of scientific apparatus held at
South Kensington in 1876, several dynamo machines might
be seen at work for producing light, among which were the
"Alliance" modification of Holmes's machine, the machine
of Gramme, and the Hefner-Alteneck or New Siemens
246
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
machine. Although these were all successful in their effects,
the latter machine was remarkable for its extraordinary
compactness, and on that account attracted peculiar notice.
Stimulated by this exhibition the Trinity House directed
an exhaustive series of experiments to be made, which were
carried out in 1876-7 at the South Foreland Lighthouse
under the direction of their scientific adviser, Professor
Tyndall, and their engineer-in-chief, Mr. (now Sir) James
Douglass.
The several machines were tried in comparison with each
other, and when they were at work, the coal consumed, the
light produced, and the horse-power absorbed were accu-
rately measured by a series of experiments on shore; and
the penetrating power and comparative intensity of the
lights in various states of the atmosphere, and at various
distances, were determined by a second series of observa-
tions made on one of the Trinity yachts out at sea.
The results of these experiments are given in a very
complete Report issued by the Trinity House in the
autumn of 1877.
*
Dr. Tyndall said :—
As the result of these observations, the new machines, i.c.
Siemens's and Gramme's, mark a great advance both as to
economy and power in the application of the electric light to
lighthouse purposes. Both inventions undoubtedly place at the
disposal of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House electric
lights of a surpassing energy. Combining certain arrangements,
a light transcending in power and individuality all other lights now
existing would probably be obtained.
The engineer, in a paper on the subject, said :—
With reference to the electric luminary, it is doubtful whether
* Accounts of the matter will also be found in Engineering of
Oct. 19, and in the Times of Oct. 3, 1877.
CHAP. VII.]
247
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
1
any practical limit can be assigned to the intensity attainable
with it, the question being limited by cost only.
As a result of the inquiry, Messrs. Siemens were com-
missioned to construct, on their principle, the electric appa-
ratus for the Lizard, and the light was shown there for the
first time in March, 1878.
In November, 1878, Dr. Siemens was asked by the
Council of the Royal Albert Hall to give his assistance
upon a committee of scientific men to consider the possi-
bility of applying electricity to the lighting of the hall and
buildings. He gladly undertook the duty and supplied
apparatus, with which, in the course of a few months,
experimental lights were installed. On the 17th March
the King of the Belgians visited the hall to see the effect.
At the beginning of 1880, Dr. Siemens repurchased the
apparatus and undertook further experiments at his own
expense.
1
He paid, personally, great attention to electric light-
ing. During this period he took out, independently of
his inventions for the dynamo machines, five patents for
improvements in lamps for the arc lights, and this branch
of the business formed the object of his special care.
When the dynamo and its application to electric lighting
had become well-established, the managers of the Royal
Institution of Great Britain, ever desirous to lay before its
members the most accurate information as to the progress
of practical science, asked Dr. Siemens to give them a
lecture on the subject.
He was pleased and flattered by the compliment;
but he felt that in speaking of electric lighting he
would be placed in a delicate position, on account of his
248
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
large business relations with work of the kind. He must
either omit much that he might say, or he might appear to
be making use of the opportunity to draw attention to his
own personal affairs.
He, therefore, declined the offer, and the lecture, a most
excellent one, was given on February 17, 1879, by Professor
Tyndall. Dr. Siemens agreed to supplement this with a
lecture on the dynamo-electric current more generally,
which was given on 12 March, 1880.*
Electric Transmission of Power.
When such a machine as the dynamo was once brought
into existence it was sure to be taken advantage of for
other applications of powerful electric energy. Several
examples of these will be given in the next chapter; but
it is necessary here to allude to one remarkable case which
was among the earliest to which Dr. Siemens gave his
attention.
In this, the electric current is used, not for any action
of its own, but merely as a vehicle for the transmis-
sion of power; just as a boat on a river, or a waggon
on a railway is used to transport some valuable commodity
for use at a distant place. The power of horses, or of a
water-fall, or of a steam-engine, is applied in a dynamo to
excite a current that current is passed along a wire, and
will, by the aid of another dynamo at the other end of the
wire, reproduce the power (or a large portion of it) in a far
distant locality.
This use of electricity formed a favourite study for Dr.
Siemens; and it seems to have first strongly impressed
* These two lectures, taken together, give a full and interesting
account of the rise and progress of this new phase of electrical industry,
and for much of the foregoing information the author is indebted to
them.
CHAP. VII.]
249
ELECTRIC POWER.
itself on his mind when, in the Autumn of 1876, he
went to America and visited the Falls of Niagara. In all
his many journeys in different countries nothing made
such a deep impression on him as this wonderful natural
phenomenon. The stupendous rush of waters filled him
with fear and admiration, as it does every one who comes
within the sound of its mighty roar. But he saw in it
something far beyond what was obvious to the multitude:
for his scientific mind could not help viewing it as an inex-
pressibly grand manifestation of mechanical energy. And
he at once began to speculate whether it was absolutely
necessary that the whole of this glorious magnitude of
power should be wasted in dashing itself into the chasm
below?-whether it was not possible that at least some
portion of it might be practically utilized for the benefit of
mankind?
He had not to think long before a possible means of
doing this presented itself to him. The dynamo-machine
had just then been brought to perfection, partly by his
own labours; and he asked himself, Why should not this
colossal power actuate a colossal series of dynamos, whose
conducting wires might transmit its activity to places miles
away?
This great idea, formed amid the thunderings of the
cataract, accompanied him all the way home, and was
meditated on in the quiet of his study. He submitted it
to the test of mathematical calculation, and so far con-
vinced himself of its reasonable nature that he determined,
when a fitting occasion arrived, to make it known.
The opportunity arrived in the Spring of 1877, when he
had to give an opening address as President of the Iron
and Steel Institute. In that address he had to point out
the dependence of the iron and steel manufacture on coal
as a fuel. He alluded to the gradual diminution of the
250
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
stores in the earth of this valuable commodity, owing to
the vast consumption of it for steam power; and he urged
that other natural sources of force, such as water and wind,
ought to be made more use of. And speaking of water-
power, he made the following remarks:-
The advantage of utilising water-power applies, however,
chiefly to Continental countries, with large elevated plateaus,
such as Sweden and the United States of America, and it is
interesting to contemplate the magnitude of power which is now
for the most part lost, but which may be, sooner or later, called
into requisition.
Take the Falls of Niagara as a familiar example. The amount
of water passing over this fall has been estimated at 100 millions
of tons per hour, and its perpendicular descent may be taken at
150 feet, without counting the rapids, which represent a further
fall of 150 feet, making a total of 300 feet between lake and lake.
But the force represented by the principal fall alone amounts to
16,800,000 horse power, an amount which, if it had to be
produced by steam, would necessitate an expenditure of not less
than 266,000,000 tons of coals per annum, taking the consump-
tion of coal at 4 lbs. per
horse power per hour. In other words,
all the coal raised throughout the world would barely suffice to
produce the amount of power that continually runs to waste at
this one great fall.
It would not be difficult, indeed, to realize a large proportion
of the power so wasted, by means of turbines and water-wheels
erected on the shores of the deep river below the falls, sup-
plying them from races cut along the edges. But it would
be impossible to utilize the power on the spot, the district
being devoid of mineral wealth, or other natural inducements for
the establishment of factories. In order to render available the
force of falling water at this, and hundreds of other places simi-
larly situated, we must devise a practicable means of transporting
the power. Sir William Armstrong has taught us how to carry
and utilize water at a distance, if conveyed through high-pressure
mains, and compressed air* has been employed for the same
This mode of transmitting power was proposed by Denys Papin
CHAP. VII.]
251
THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.
purposes. At Schaffhausen, in Switzerland, as well as at some
other places on the Continent, power is conveyed by means of
quick-working steel ropes passing over large pullies; by these
means it may be carried to a distance of one or two miles without
difficulty.
Time will probably reveal to us effectual means of carrying
power to great distances, but I cannot refrain from alluding
to one which is, in my opinion, worthy of consideration,
namely, the electrical conductor. Suppose water-power be
employed to give motion to a dynamo-electrical machine, a very
powerful electrical current will be the result, which may be
carried to a great distance, through a large metallic conductor,
and then be made to impart motion to electro-magnetic engines,
to ignite the carbon points of electric lamps, or to effect the
separation of metals from their combinations. A copper rod
three inches in diameter would be capable of transmitting 1000
horse-power a distance of say thirty miles, an amount sufficient
to supply one quarter of a million candle-power, which would
suffice to illuminate a moderately sized town.
This statement startled the audience considerably; and
it is still remembered that, when it was delivered, a smile
of incredulity was observed to play over the features of
many of his hearers.
But he was not to be laughed out of his idea; and as a
reproof to the dulness of the unbelievers, he took the bold
step of bringing the subject under the notice of the two
public bodies who were certainly most competent to
criticize it, namely, the Royal Society, and the Physical
Society, giving them the full explanation, not only of the
theoretical calculations on which he had based his asser-
tions, but also of some practical details, by which he
considered they might be carried into effect.
It will be seen in the next chapter how Dr. Siemens's
in 1688. The boring machines for piercing the great Alpine tunnels
were worked in this way..
252
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
idea of the electric transmission of power has been made
practically available.
MISCELLANEOUS INVENTIONS.
We may here give an account of several scientific inven-
tions on which Dr. Siemens occupied himself during this
period of his life.
Electric Pyrometer.
In 1871 he gave to the Royal Society a communication,
describing an invention which he thought of considerable
importance, namely, an improved pyrometer, or thermometer
for very high temperatures, acting by electricity. The exact
measurement of great degrees of heat had always presented
serious difficulties, the ordinary means being a very rough
one, contrived by Wedgwood, and acting by the contraction
of an argillaceous material.
This subject had arisen in his mind about ten years
before. When he was engaged, in 1860, on the Rangoon
and Singapore telegraph cable, some observations led him
to believe that variations of electrical resistance might be
made use of to determine variations of temperature; and
he addressed a letter to this effect to Dr. Tyndall, which
was printed in the Philosophical Magazine of January, 1861.
He said :-
I was desirous to know the precise temperature of the coil of
cable on board ship at different points throughout its mass, having
been led by previous observations to apprehend spontaneous
generation of heat. As it would have been impossible to intro-
duce mercury thermometers into the interior of the mass, I thought
of having recourse to an instrument based upon the well ascer-
tained fact that the conductivity of a copper wire increases in a
simple ratio inversely with its temperature.
CHAP. VII.]
253
ELECTRIC PYROMETER.
He then described the instrument, and added :—
The ratio of increase of resistance of copper wire with increase
of temperature may be regarded as perfectly constant within the
ordinary limits of temperature; and being able to appreciate the
tenth part of a unit in the variable resistance coil employed, we
have the means of determining with great accuracy the temperature
of the locality where the resistance coil is placed.
Resistance thermometers of this description might, I think,
be used with advantage in a variety of scientific observations ;
for instance, to determine the temperature of the ground at
various depths throughout the year, or of the sea at various depths;
or by substituting an open coil of platinum wire for the insu-
lated copper coil, this instrument would be found useful also as a
pyrometer.
This latter object seems clearly to have been most
prominent in his mind, as he was then engaged in experi-
ments on his Regenerative Furnace, and felt the want of such
an instrument. He did not then perfect it; but at the
meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute at Merthyr, in Sep-
tember, 1870, he described the instrument itself as it might
be applied to iron furnaces; and on the 27th April, 1871,
he read the paper to the Royal Society, giving a more full
and general scientific account of it.
This paper was entitled, " On the increase of Electrical
resistance in Conductors with rise of Temperature, and its
application to the measure of Ordinary and Furnace Tem-
peratures; also, on a simple method of measuring Electrical
Resistance." It was honoured by being made the Bakerian
Lecture for the year.
The first part treated scientifically of the general prin-
ciple; the second and third described the instruments for
its application. The author showed that in this way
temperatures exceeding the welding point of iron, and
approaching the melting point of platinum, could be mea-
254
[CHAP. VII.
:
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
sured by the same instrument with which slight variations
at ordinary temperatures are told; a thermometer scale
being thus obtained, embracing without a break the entire
range.
Nothing of importance appears to have been practically
done with the instrument for some years; but at a later
time it was applied successfully to several useful purposes,
as will be stated in the next chapter.
Bathometer and Attraction Meter.
During this period also, Mr. Siemens perfected an instru-
ment for determining the depth of the sea without the use
of the sounding line.
This, like the pyrometer, had engaged his attention
many years before. In his earliest submarine cable opera-
tions, he had seen what an immense advantage such
an instrument would be, and he had conceived the
idea on which it might be designed. It occurred to him
that the total attractive force of the earth must be sensibly
influenced by the interposition of a comparatively light
substance, such as water, between the vessel and the solid
portion of the earth below; and that the degree of diminu-
tion would depend on the depth of the water. Hence, if
an instrument could be produced sensitive enough to show
the diminution of gravity, this would indicate at the surface
the depth of the sounding.
He constructed such an instrument, and it was tried, in
1859, on board H.M.S. Firebrand, then engaged in some
soundings in the Bay of Biscay. It was sufficient to esta-
blish the correctness of the principle, as its indications
agreed generally within 10 per cent. with actual soundings;
and on the strength of this, considering the novelty of the
principle, Mr. Siemens communicated a description of the
CHAP. VII.]
255
BATHOMETER.
instrument to the British Association at their meeting at
Manchester in 1861. The instrument, however, was im-
perfect, and there were practical difficulties in its manage-
ment which caused it to be laid aside.
Some years later, certain operations in laying submarine
cables, revived in him the conviction that an accurate
instrument of the kind would be of considerable value, not
only to the cable layer, but to the navigator generally.
He again took up the subject and succeeded in making a
better instrument on the same principle, which he described
in a paper presented to the Royal Society in February,
1876, and published in the Philosophical Transactions. He
called it a “ Bathometer," and gave an account of its trial
on board the Faraday, in October, 1875, which showed
results considered satisfactory.
an "
The same Paper contained also a description of another
instrument, contrived by him on an analogous principle
but for measuring horizontal attractions. This he called
"Attraction Meter." It was so sensitive to external
attraction that the moving of a person from one side
of it to the other caused a sensible indication. It was
also clearly influenced by the gravitation of the sun
and moon, the fluid in it being, in fact, subject to a
perceptible daily tide.
Deep Sea Photometer.
In the course of investigations as to the nature of life
at great depths in the ocean, questions had been mooted
depending on the penetration of light into deep water.
The subject was mentioned to Dr. Siemens, and he at once
contrived an instrument to determine this by actual experi-
ment, and it was tried on board H.M.S. Shearwater in
August, 1871.
256
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
It consisted of an apparatus by which, when sunk in the
sea, sensitive photographic papers could be exposed for any
length of time, at the will of the operator. The papers
were contained in glass tubes enclosed in a box, and the
exposure was effected by an electric apparatus attached to
the cable by which the box was lowered. Several tubes
could be thus exposed at different depths, and when drawn
up, the whole could be "developed" by the usual photo-
graphic process, and the influence of the light could be
observed and recorded.
Trials of the instrument were made in the Mediterranean,
and the results were thus stated by Dr. Siemens :—
Taking impressions at intervals of twenty-five fathoms, the
results proved clearly that the effect of light diminished at a
uniform, but rapid ratio, the paper being blackened at twenty-
five fathoms depth, browned at fifty fathoms, stained yellow-
brown at seventy-five, and only faintly tinged at 100 fathoms
after five minutes' exposure.
Darkness seems, indeed, to set in fast when you descend
above 100 fathoms ; but light in even measurable quantities will
unquestionably descend to a much greater depth, and there
exercise its influence upon animal and vegetable life. What I
wanted to establish was the ratio of decrease, but the experiments
made did not suffice for this purpose; and I had not time to
continue them.
It is worthy of remark that there was only an action by the
vertical ray of light; for although the tubes were exposed to the
light all round, their axes being horizontal, only the uppermost
surface of the sensitive paper was acted on, and this so strongly
as to penetrate two layers of the paper at thirty fathoms; but
there was an absolute absence, it appeared, of diffused light,
the lower side of the papers being perfectly unaffected.
The apparatus was shown in the exhibition of 1872.
CHAP. VII.]
257
ARMOUR PLATING,
Vessels to Resist High Pressure.
In 1877 Colonel Beaumont, who was making large use
of compressed air as a source of power, complained to
Dr. Siemens that he had found great difficulty in getting
receiving vessels sufficiently strong to withstand the very
high pressure which he desired to use. This intimation
was sufficient to put Dr. Siemens's inventive powers into
action, and he forthwith designed a new kind of vessel, to
be used as a reservoir or boiler, which, while it was remark-
able for its lightness, was of strength capable of resisting
great internal pressure.
One of these vessels was made with a capacity of 100
cubic feet, not exceeding 2 tons in weight, and was per-
fectly tight at 1300 lbs. pressure per square inch. He
described it to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in
1878.
Armour Plating for War Vessels.
In 1877 Dr. Siemens gave some attention to a subject
which had been before scientific and mechanical men for
some years, namely, that of the protection of ships of war
by iron armour against the fire of heavy artillery.
The necessity of this became apparent after the Crimean
war, and the Warrior, the first ship so armed, was launched
in December, 1860. In the following year the Government
appointed a committee, afterwards well known as the "Iron
Armour" or "Iron Plate" Committee,* to investigate the
principles which should guide the design and use of iron
armour; and they, during four years, made a great number
of experiments and trials, and presented to the Govern-
ment a number of valuable reports on the subject. The
experiments were chiefly made on a large practical scale
* Of which the author of this work was a member.
S
258
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
by firing shot and shell from heavy guns against targets of
full size, constructed to represent portions of a ship's side,
and noting the resistance offered and the extent of damage
done.
These experiments were subsequently continued by other
Government bodies, and were often discussed among
scientific men. It was natural that Dr. Siemens, having
so much experience in the properties of iron and steel,
should give his mind to the subject.
In January, 1878, he addressed a long letter to the
Secretary of the Admiralty proposing a plan of his
own, for which he had obtained a provisional patent.
This plan was never brought to trial, but it is charac-
teristic of Dr. Siemens that, in describing his scheme,
he did not waste time in guesses or speculations, but
went at once to matters of principle. He began by scienti-
fically calculating the amount of energy "residing in the
projectile," as he termed it; after which he explained what
sort of effects this was capable of producing, and how
proper provision must be made for receiving this amount
of energy, and disposing of it in such a way as would cause
the least damage to the ship or her crew.*
* In this mode of stating the subject, Dr. Siemens hit exactly on
what was perhaps the greatest difficulty the Iron Armour Committee
had to encounter in getting the nature of the problem properly
understood. People thought generally that the way to keep shot
from entering a vessel should be the same as would be applied to
keep a burglar from breaking into a strong box; namely, by protect-
ing it by a covering extremely hard, and therefore supposed to be
impenetrable. Hence the hardness of the iron, or supposed im-
penetrableness of the steel, was assumed to be the great object to be
attained.
The committee strove earnestly to explain that this was a great
error. The action of a burglar and of a shot were shown to be
incapable of comparison with each other, one being a static, the other
a dynamic action. When the shot arrived, there was " residing in it,”
according to Dr. Siemens's expressive phrase, a very large amount of
CHAP. VII.]
259
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, LECTURES, ADDRESSES.
It has been stated that at this period of his life Dr. Siemens
devoted much time to scientific and literary occupations
not immediately connected with his practical business.
He belonged to all the general and technical institutions.
connected with mechanical or physical science; he was proud
of his membership with them; he willingly took office in
them; he never grudged the attention required for their
affairs; he was a very frequent attendant at their meet-
ings; he wrote papers for them; joined in their discus-
sions; and aided them by every means in his power.
But further than this, he was always ready, when called
on, to aid institutions of a more general character, to which
he did not belong, particularly those that were connected
in any way with education. He would deliver lectures or
mechanical power or energy, which must be expended in some way or
other. It was, therefore, folly to attempt to resist it-to shut it out. The
proper way was to accept it, to receive it, and to make provision for its
being expended in the least harmful way. To humour the public
notion, numbers of trials of hard steel plates were made, but always
with the result that theory predicted; the energy being unable to
expend itself otherwise, broke up the plates (since hard plates were
always more or less brittle), and scattered the fragments far and wide,
so doing about the maximum of mischief possible.
The committee took quite the other tack: they offered something
for the shot to do; they provided plates, not of hard steel, but of soft
iron, which would admit of being battered about without fracture,
and so would occupy and expend the energy of the shot while still
protecting the vessel.
This preference for soft iron over hard steel was incomprehensible
to the public; it was never thought very well of by the authorities;
and even now it is doubtful whether the principle on which it was
founded, and which was so aptly seized at the first moment by
Dr. Siemens, is really understood and acted on.
The Iron Armour Committee, while in the midst of most useful
work, were prematurely dissolved on political grounds, and new
Admiralty and Ordnance kings arose who knew not their thoughts
and ways.
S 2
260
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
addresses, and sometimes would give presents of money
or apparatus, or even establish rewards and prizes for their
pupils.
His connexion with some of the societies, and his com-
munications to them, have been noticed in previous chapters;
but it is necessary here to make a more special mention of
his transactions with them, and with other public bodies.
The Royal Society.
In this, the most important of the societies, he met
the greatest number of scientific friends. He attended
the meetings whenever he could, and he contributed
several original papers at different times. Some of these
were printed in the Philosophical Transactions, an honour
accorded only to those papers which are esteemed of
special scientific merit; and one of them had the further
distinction of being selected for the "Bakerian" Lecture,
thereby gaining a small prize, awarded annually to papers
of remarkable character.
He had further distinctions awarded him by the society,
being elected at the annual meetings in November, 1869,
1870, 1878, and 1879, to serve on the Council for the four
sessions following those dates.
There are further connected with this society two clubs,
called the Royal Society Club, and the Philosophical Club.
These are very select institutions, each with a limited
number of members; membership in both is restricted to
Fellows of the Royal Society; and in the latter to those
who have had papers published in the Philosophical Trans-
actions; and election into them is very eagerly sought.
Dr. Siemens was elected into the Philosophical Club in
November, 1870, and into the Royal Society Club in June,
1871.
CHAP. VII.]
261
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.
The British Association for the Advancement of Science.
This body was also very congenial to Dr. Siemens from
its dealing with so many branches of science, mathematics,
physics, chemistry, and mechanics, in which he was specially
interested.
He was a regular attendant at their migratory meetings,
in different parts of the country, and he always had some
new and important communications to lay before them.
He served on the Council of the Association from 1871 to
1875.
At the meeting at Bradford, in September, 1873, he
delivered, at the invitation of the council, a lecture to the
operative classes on "Fuel." As it was a subject he had
made peculiarly his own, it will be readily understood that
he did it full justice, and the lecture is an example of
profound scientific knowledge explained in a popular and
easily intelligible manner.
Institution of Civil Engineers.
Dr. Siemens had now become so popular in this, the
chief technical society in his own profession, that, in
December, 1871, he was elected a member of Council, a
position which he retained during the whole of his life,
being re-elected every year. At the time of his death he
stood next in rank for nomination as one of the vice-
presidents, and he would have undoubtedly become
president a few years later.
He was indefatigable in the personal aid he gave to the
business of the Council; and it is almost superfluous to
say that he commanded the respect and esteem not only
of his brother officers, but of all the members who had the
good fortune to know him.
262
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
This institution, a body of civil engineers practising
more especially the mechanical branch of the profession,
was always sympathetically esteemed by Mr. Siemens, on
account of his own kindred tastes and occupations. He
was elected a member in 1851 (the fourth year of its exist-
ence); and he afterwards served for twenty-eight years as
a member of Council, and for four years as vice-president.
In 1872 he was chosen President, holding the office for
two years. The first meeting under his presidency was
held at Liverpool, in July, 1872, when he gave an opening
address, referring chiefly to the internal affairs of the body.
Iron and Steel Institute.
In the year 1869 a society was founded under the name
of the Iron and Steel Institute, for the study and discussion
of subjects connected with the manufacture and use of these
metals. The first President was the Duke of Devonshire,
K.G., and the first meeting was held in London on the
23rd June of that year. Mr. Siemens warmly approved
the establishment of this Society. He was one of the
original members, and in 1871 he was elected member
of Council.
One of the first things the Society did was, in September,
1870, to visit the Siemens Steel Works at Landore, then
recently established; the members were conducted over
the works by Mr. Siemens and Mr. Gordon, and the whole
process of manufacture was shown and explained to them.
Mr. Siemens had frequently afterwards to attend the reading
of papers by other members, on his own inventions and
processes, and he never failed to meet, in the best spirit,
any criticisms made upon them.
CHAP. VII.] IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE.
263
In 1875 he was presented with the Bessemer Gold Medal
of the Society, "in recognition of the valuable services he
had rendered to the iron and steel trades by his important
inventions and investigations."
In 1877 he was elected President for the year; and on
the 21st March he opened the sessional meetings held in
London, with an address, which, as might naturally be
expected, was interesting in an unusual degree.
It referred to many topics, all pertinent to the interests
of the members of the Society. Among these was the
subject of fuel. After pointing out the advantages of
the British Islands in this particular, he alluded to the
remarkable industrial use of natural gas in America, and
he took the opportunity of mentioning a novel idea of his
own. He said :-
The application has reminded me of a project I put forward a
good many years ago,* namely, to erect gas producers at the
bottom of coal mines, and by the conversion of solid into gaseous
fuel, to save entirely the labour of raising and carrying the latter
to its destination. The gaseous fuel, in ascending from the
bottom of the mine to the bank would (owing to its temperature
and low specific gravity) acquire in its ascent an onward pressure
sufficient to propel it through pipes or culverts to a considerable
distance, and in this way it would be possible to supply townships
with heating gas, not only for use in factories, but to a great
extent for domestic purposes also.
According to the general definition of fuel given above, we
* The following passage occurs in a letter to Mr. Joseph Phillips,
September 3, 1866, referring to his gas furnace :
"It is my ultimate intention to place the gas producers at the
bottom of a coal mine, within reasonable distance of the works, the
hoisting and carting of coal will thus be entirely saved, and the
ascending gas column will produce sufficient propelling force to send
the gas through several miles of culvert. At the Mersey works I have
placed the gas producers in a tunnel below the iron works, proving
the practicability of the plan."
264
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
have to include the evaporative effect of the sun's rays, by which
sea-water is raised to elevated mountain-levels, whence it descends
towards the sea, and in so doing is capable of imparting motion
to machinery.
This form of fuel has been resorted to in all countries since
the dawn of civilization, and it is owing to this circumstance that
the industries of the world were formerly very much scattered
over the valleys and gorges of mountainous districts, where the
mountain stream gave motion to the saw-mill or flour-mill, to the
trombe of the iron smelter, and to the helve of the iron and steel
manufacturer.
It is not unreasonable to expect that the advantage of utilizing
natural forces, which we could afford to neglect during a period
of general prosperity, will become again an essential element in
determining the very lowest price at which our produce may be
sent into the market.
In illustration of this Dr. Siemens gave the remarkable
statement in regard to the value of the water-power in the
Falls of Niagara, which has been quoted on page 250.
In the autumn of 1878, still during Dr. Siemens's presi-
dency, the Institute met in Paris. This meeting was
prompted by the great Exhibitions held there, backed by
special invitations from the Institution des Ingénieurs
Civils, the Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Na-
tionale, and the Directors of the Conservatoire des Arts
et Métiers. The invitation was gladly accepted, as afford-
ing the English members an unusually good opportunity,
not only of studying the splendid collections of iron and
steel, from all nationalities, gathered in the Exhibition,
but of visiting the celebrated French iron works within
easy reach.
It was fortunate for the Institute that this visit happened
during the presidency of Dr. Siemens, inasmuch as his
widely-extended European reputation, his acquaintance
with the French and other continental languages, and
CHAP. VII.] SOCIETY OF TELEGRAPH ENGINEERS. 265
his familiarity with foreign customs and habits, gave a
character and éclat to the meeting, which could scarcely
have been gained under the management of an English.
President, however eminent in science or technology.
The first meeting was held on the 16th of September, in
the large hall of the Société d'Encouragement, the members
being formally welcomed by the heads of the French
societies who had given the invitations. At the conclusion
of the formal reception ceremonial, Dr. Siemens gave an
address, in which he pointed out the international character
of the Institute, and enlarged on the advantages of the
French systems of scientific and technical education. The
address was translated and widely distributed in France.
After the business of the Institute in Paris was concluded
excursions were made to three of the principal establish-
ments in the French iron trade, namely, to the works of
Messrs. Schneider, at Creusot;-to the "Terre Noire"
works at St. Etienne ;—and to the iron works and collieries
of MM. de Wendel, at Hayange, and Sterling Wendel, in
Lorraine.
Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians.
This society was founded in the year 1872, and an appro-
priate compliment was paid to Dr. Siemens by electing him
the first President. He gave, on the 28th of February, his
opening address, the most salient points of which were a
justification of the establishment of the society, and an at-
tempt to define the position and duties of such institutions
generally.
In 1876 he presented, to the society a handsome marble
bust, sculptured by Mr. Edward Davis, of Sir Francis
Ronald, who, as early as 1816, had demonstrated by actual
experiment the possibility of an electric telegraph.
1
266
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
In 1878 he was again elected President, and on the 23rd
of January gave a second address, in which he congratulated
the society on its increase and prosperity, and gave an
analysis of the state of knowledge and practice in the
applications of electricity.
Institution of Naval Architects.
This society was founded in March, 1860, “to promote
the improvement of ships and of all that specially apper-
tains to them." Dr. Siemens was one of the first members.
In 1876 a paper on the Faraday telegraph cable ship
was read by Mr. Merrifield, and Dr. Siemens took part in
the discussion.
He frequently spoke at the meetings, generally on the
quality and uses of steel for shipbuilding, a subject which
often came before the society.
The Hall of Applied Sciences.
Towards the end of this period he made a munificent
proposition, referring to the various institutions established
for the study of engineering subjects. In addition to the
chief and most general of these, the Institution of Civil
Engineers, he had noticed the growth of minor societies.
representing various special branches of civil engineering.
Indeed, in his position as the first President of one of these,
he had encouraged their formation, and clearly justified
their raison d'être.
It occurred to him that it would be a good thing to com-
bine them together, and he gave expression to this idea in
his presidential address to the Iron and Steel Institute in
March, 1877, suggesting that a large building should be
erected, in a good locality, for their joint accommodation.
In 1879, when he retired from the presidency of that
CHAP. VII.]
267
SOCIETY OF ARTS.
body, he offered a sum of £10,000 towards the erection
of such a building, subject to the condition, "that it
should be erected in Westminster, and that its ultimate
management should be in the hands of a joint committee
on which the different societies should be represented,
under the presidency of the President of the Institution
of Civil Engineers, the parent institution of engineering
science."
He brought the project before the councils of the various
societies interested; and they expressed their warm appre-
ciation of his liberality. The matter was discussed for some
time, but difficulties arose in regard to the mode of carrying
out the scheme, and it fell to the ground.
At the same time the general idea presented such ob-
vious advantages, that a strong opinion appeared to be
entertained that it would sooner or later be carried into
effect. It is only to be regretted that the opportunity
should have been lost, not only of getting such a large
contribution to the funds, but of obtaining the aid of a
man who, by his distinguished position and energetic
character, would have been certain to carry it nobly
through.
The Society of Arts.
This was the first society he joined, having become a
member in 1849; and at the time of his death he occupied
the highest position in it (except the permanent President,
the Prince of Wales), namely, the Chairman of the Council.
As early as 1844 specimens of his Anastatic Printing had
been exhibited there, and in the year of his election he
gave a description of his brother's telegraphic inventions,
the excellence of which attracted considerable notice.
The following year he presented a paper descriptive of
his new Regenerative Condenser, for which (as has been
268
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
already stated in Chap. V.) he received the award of the
society's gold medal. He always held this award in high
esteem, and on the very last occasion when he took the
chair at the society, 27 June, 1883, in acknowledging a vote
of thanks passed to him, he said, “The Society of Arts
had a very old claim on him. It was the first society with
which he became connected, and the first which recognized
his labours by awarding him, in 1850, its gold medal."
In 1874 and 1875 he was elected to serve on the council,
and in the latter year the society thought it right to offer
him a more substantial proof of their appreciation of his
efforts to promote their objects by awarding him their
Albert medal. This was founded in 1863, in memory of
H.R.H. the Prince Consort, "to be awarded by the council
not oftener than once a year for distinguished merit in
promoting arts, manufactures or commerce." It is a gold
medal of large size, with a handsome artistic design, exe-
cuted by Mr. Leonard Wyon. The medal is the greatest
honour the society can bestow; the award is adjudged with
great formality and deliberation, and its recipients have
been men of high distinction. The first award, in 1864,
was to Sir Rowland Hill; the second to the Emperor
Napoleon III.; and the third to Michael Faraday. In
Dr. Siemens's case the award was made, according to the
resolution of the council,-
For his researches in connection with the laws of heat, and the
practical application of them to furnaces used in the Arts; and
for his improvements in the manufacture of iron; and generally
for the services rendered by him in connexion with economisation
of fuel in its various applications to the manufactures and the
Arts.
The medal was presented to Dr. Siemens by H.R.H.
the Prince of Wales, as President of the society, at Marl-
borough House, on the 22nd of February, 1875.
CHAP, VII.]
269
SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS,
Chemical Society.
He was elected a Fellow of this in November, 1870, and
he chose it to receive the more scientific explanations of
his metallurgical processes.
Royal Institution of Great Britain.
He became a subscriber to this institution at an early
period, and at a later time he was elected a vice-president
and one of the managers. He took much interest in the
proceedings, and delivered several Friday evening lectures.
One of these, which attracted much curiosity, was given in
February, 1876, on the peculiar quality of sensitiveness to
light inherent in selenium; and with his remarkable
facility at reducing scientific discoveries to practical shape,
he devised what he called a selenium eye, i.e., an apparatus.
made in the shape of an enlarged human eye, which was
sensible to light and to difference of colour; which showed
fatigue under intense light; and which recovered therefrom
by repose in keeping the eyelids closed. He stated further
that it would not be difficult to make the closing of the eye
to a bright flash automatic, thus imitating the spontaneous
or reflex action of the human organ.
United Service Institution.
On the 3rd of March, 1879, Dr. Siemens gave an im-
portant lecture at this Institution, "On the Production of
Steel and its Application to Military Purposes." The chair
was taken by Gen. Sir Henry Lefroy, K.C.M.G., who, in
introducing the lecturer, said :—
It is scarcely necessary for me to remind you that you have
before you one of the most distinguished physical philosophers of
the present day. We have to do, to-night, not with the dis-
270
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
tinguished electrician, with the constructor of the "Faraday,"
with the fertile inventor whose range has gone over subjects as
various as the setting of type and the measure of the depth of the
ocean; but with one of the most scientific metallurgists of
England, the inventor of many remarkable processes in that art,
and of whom it may be very safely said that he has touched no
subject which he has not adorned.
The meeting was attended by many experts in gunnery
construction, and a discussion followed, in which the chair-
man, Sir William Thomson, Mr. Barnaby (chief constructor
of the navy), and General Younghusband (director of the
Woolwich gun factory) took part; and Mr. Siemens
replied.
The proceedings at the meeting raised a controversy in
the newspapers. Some of the speakers had offered a quasi
apology for the limited use made of steel in large guns;
partly on the ground of the expense, and partly because
the peculiar properties recommending it had not been.
sufficiently known. These statements were challenged in
a letter to the Times by Mr. Bessemer, and a somewhat
lengthy correspondence followed, in which the Woolwich
authorities, Mr. Krupp and Dr. Siemens, expressed their
opinions on the points in dispute.
Athenæum Club.
In 1871 Dr. Siemens received a great compliment from
the Athenæum Club. This society was founded "for the
association of individuals known for their scientific or
literary attainments, artists of eminence in any class of the
fine arts, and noblemen and gentlemen distinguished as
liberal patrons of science, literature, or the arts."
The number of members is limited, and the applications
for admission being very numerous, it is necessary for a
candidate to wait some 15 years after proposal before he
CHAP. VII.]
271
ATHENÆUM CLUB.
can be ballotted for. But as this necessity might keep
suitable persons for a long time out of the club, a rule was
enacted as follows:
It being essential to the maintenance of the Athenæum, in
conformity with the principles upon which it was originally
founded, that the annual introduction of a certain number of
persons of distinguished eminence in Science, Literature, or the
Arts, or for Public Services, should be secured, a limited number
of persons of such qualifications shall be elected by the Committee.
The number so elected shall not exceed nine in each year.
No election shall take place unless nine at the least of the
Committee be actually present, and the whole of those present,
unanimous in their election. . . The Club intrust this privilege
to the Committee, in the entire confidence that they will only
elect persons who shall have attained to distinguished eminence.
Dr. Siemens had been proposed on the ordinary list in
May, 1865, by Professor Graham, and seconded by Captain
(now Sir) Douglas Galton. He might therefore have come
on for ballot about 1880. But nine years before this time
a motion was made in committee by Dr. E. Frankland for
his election under the special rule, the following being
the qualifications set forth on his behalf :-
Author of numerous Papers in the Philosophical Transactions
and other scientific journals on Dynamics, Heat, and Electricity;
well known as an engineer and constructor of lines of submarine
and land telegraphs; inventor of several valuable and important
processes and apparatus in connection with the application of
heat in gas-making, glass manufacture, and metallurgy; also of
several kinds of new machinery and electrical apparatus.
The application was duly considered, and Dr. Siemens
was elected on the 21st February, 1871.
The club are in the habit of electing annually a certain
number of their most eminent and popular members to
serve on their managing committee. Dr. Siemens was
272
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
also paid this further compliment in May, 1874, and he
served till May, 1877.
Glasgow Science Lectures.
In 1878 an association formed in Glasgow for giving
lectures on science in that town, requested Dr. Siemens to
aid them, which he very willingly agreed to do.
He delivered accordingly, in the City Hall, on the 14th
March in that year, an address "On the Utilization of
Heat and other Natural Forces." Beginning with general
explanatory remarks about heat and fuel, he gave, with the
aid of diagrams and models, descriptions of his regene-
rative gas furnace, and of the utilization of power by
electric transmission, adding a curious hint as to the pos-
sible future use of the electric current for domestic matters.
Having shown its capability of producing heat as well as
light, he said :-
I now propose to bring before you another simple experiment
to show how readily the heat so generated may be employed for
heating water. I will immerse the spiral coil of platinum wire in
a glass jar containing about two pints of water, and after closing
the electric circuit you will perceive, in the course of a minute or
two that the water is brought to the boiling point; nor would this
mode of heating water in small quantities be expensive if currents
were laid on to our houses from dynamo-electric machines. And
who knows whether, in the electrical age, towards which we seem
to be gravitating, the apparatus before you may not be the common
coffee-machine of the day?
DOMESTIC LIFE.
The beginning of 1870 was, in all respects, an anxious,
harassing period.
Siemens was
On the 29th December, 1869, Mrs. Siemens
taken ill with what proved to be an attack of scarlet
CHAP. VII.] OXFORD DOCTOR'S DEGREE.
273
fever, so severe, that for some time her life was thought
in danger. The distress caused by this to her husband
was a sore aggravation of the effect of the bad news
brought day by day from the Indo-European telegraph;
but fortunately her good constitution carried her through,
although it was the end of February before she was
allowed to leave her bed-room. On the 11th of March,
a change being necessary, she was taken by her husband
to Torquay, where they spent a happy month, their pre-
sence in the place attracting the visits of many relatives
and friends.
In the middle of this year Mr. Siemens received a high
honour from the University of Oxford. The intimation
of this was conveyed in the following letter from Lord
Salisbury, the Chancellor of the University :-
DEAR SIR,
HATFIELD HOUSE, HATFIELD, HERTS,
June 7, 1870.
It is my pleasing duty to inform you that the University
of Oxford desire to record their sense of your eminence in
electrical and other sciences by conferring upon you an honorary
degree at the approaching Commemoration.
I trust that it will not be unacceptable to you to receive this
token of their esteem; and that your engagements will permit
you to come to Oxford for the purpose.
The degree will be conferred on the morning of Tuesday the
21st inst.
Believe me, yours faithfully,
C. W. SIEMENS, Esq.
SALISBURY.
On the 20th June Mr. Siemens left for Oxford, accepting
with his wife the hospitality of the Dean of Christ Church
and Mrs. Liddell; and on the next day he received in the
T
274
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
Sheldonian Theatre the honorary degree of D.C.L., which
he always highly valued.
A similar honour was also conferred, at the same time,
on other distinguished men, among whom were Sir Edwin
Landseer, Sir Francis Grant, Sir William Armstrong, Mr.
Robert Lowe, and Mr. Matthew Arnold.
In 1870 he again found reason to change his private
residence. His social engagements were considerably
increasing, and he and his wife felt the want of more
spacious premises. Another motive also came into opera-
tion. When Carl came to London he brought his family
and household with him. This induced the brothers to
look out for two houses together, which were found
in "Palace Houses," opposite Kensington Gardens, in
the Uxbridge Road. The two dwellings were put in
communication by a conservatory; and from the be-
ginning of 1870 to 1881 the two families lived as one.
Dr. Siemens much enjoyed the companionship; and
his domestic happiness went far to mitigate the troubles
and anxieties attending his large and responsible business
undertakings.
There was much excitement in the two houses when, on
the 15th July, 1870, war was declared between France and
Germany. Dr. and Mrs. Siemens had previously decided
to visit the Engadine; and although such a journey was
thought by many to be a hazardous thing, neither the
husband nor the wife felt any hesitation in undertaking it.
They started on the 16th, and travelled via Antwerp
and Düsseldorf to Cassel and Coburg, where they visited
Rosenau (Prince Albert's birthplace), and gazed on the
well-known Feste Burg, which inspired Martin Luther with
his immortal hymn.
CHAP. VII.]
275
FOREIGN TRAVEL.
On arriving at Innsbruck, a carriage was hired to take
them by Imst, Landeck, and Finstermünz, up the beautiful
valley of the Inn. At Tarasp they met a Frenchman,
who informed them, out of a French journal, that " Napoléon
a passé le Rhin à Rastadt!" giving for the moment a
terrible shock to their German sympathies! St. Moritz
was reached soon after, where they remained three weeks.
Returning to their new home, with larger surroundings
and increasing social claims, Dr. and Mrs. Siemens received
much more frequently, and their gatherings are still re-
membered by many who had the privilege of invitations.
They took a pleasure in collecting around them true artistic
talent, which always drew from them respectful attention ;
and they occasionally lent their large rooms to special
professional friends for concerts, which were always well
attended.
In 1871, after attending the British Association at Edin-
burgh, they spent some time at a pretty highland villa,
which Dr. Siemens had taken for some years, "Craigdhu,"
near Kingussie.
In November, 1871, Dr. Siemens, accompanied by his
wife, started for Rome, in which city was held the third of
a series of meetings of the "Universal Telegraphic Con-
ference." This consisted of a body of delegates from all
the countries of Europe, who met about every three or four
years to discuss the progress of telegraphy, and in par-
ticular such matters as had a bearing on international
telegraphic communication. There was a large party in
the Hôtel Costanzi, Dr. and Mrs. Werner Siemens and a
niece joining them there. On the evening of their arrival,
the 27th November, Rome was magnificently illuminated,
in honour of King Victor Emmanuel's having opened the
Italian Parliament that day in the Eternal City.
T 2
276
[CHAP. VII.
C
·ACTIVE BUSINESS.
Their sojourn there, seven weeks, was full of interest,
although many hours daily had to be given up to the
important affairs of the Conference. They were surrounded
by many friends of all nations; and on the 13th January,
1872, Werner and William inaugurated a handsome new
dining-hall of the hotel by giving a banquet to nearly 100
people. On the following day they left Rome, and tra-
velled homeward by Genoa and the Riviera.
In July, 1873, Dr. and Mrs. Siemens went to Vienna for
the Great International Exhibition there. A Royal Com-
mission had been appointed to represent this country;
and Dr. Siemens was chosen by H.R.H. the Prince of
Wales to serve on one of the juries in the "Scientific
Inventions" Division.
Dr.
He was engaged on this work from the 3rd to the
21st July, after which the party made a trip, with
other friends, to the Dolomite country. The great iron
works at Prévali and Hüttenberg, were visited, and at
Villach Dr. and Mrs. Siemens made the ascent of the
Dobratsch mountain; they slept there, and during the
night were in the midst of a terrific thunderstorm.
Siemens said he knew something about electricity, but had
never been in such fearful companionship with it before;
the atmosphere was in a blaze, and the thunder threw the
earth into convulsions, as if opening to swallow them!
But the next morning was calm and peaceful, and a magni-
ficent sunrise repaid them for their discomfort.
From this district Dr. Siemens was summoned back to
Vienna to take part in a Congress on the subject of patents.
The idea of it had originated with the Chief Commissioner
of the Vienna Exhibition; and invitations had been issued
to all nations, in the name of the Austrian Government,
with a view to establishing international relations regarding
CHAP. VII.]
277
SHERWOOD.
the Patent Law. However, before the Congress assembled,
the Austrian Government (like Frankenstein, as Dr. Siemens
expressed it) became alarmed at their own creation, and
the body, instead of being an official Congress, was simply
a heterogeneous assemblage. Dr. Siemens was made pre-
sident; and among his duties was that of explaining, if
not translating, the speech of any member into any other
of the four languages which were in use there. The
occupation entailed much work and close attendance,
and he and his party did not finally leave the city till
August 11, when they returned by Salzburg, visiting the
Königssee, Berchtesgaden, and the picturesque country
around.
The sad events of 1874 have already been described.
In May of that year Dr. Siemens removed the London
offices to more spacious premises, at No. 12, Queen Anne's
Gate, overlooking St. James's Park, where they have since
remained.
The Sherwood House.-About the middle of this period,
Dr. Siemens took a country house in addition to his
London residence.
He had several objects in this, irrespective of his con-
stant love for fresh air. His business work, thanks to the
presence of his brother Carl, and to the aid of many well-
skilled assistants, had become easier, and a source of less
anxiety than formerly; and he felt the inclination growing
upon him to devote more attention to matters of science.
For this object he wanted retirement for quiet study, and
desired to get a place where," the world shut out," he could
call his thoughts home and direct them uninterruptedly to
the matters before him.
Always keeping in mind beauty of scenery as his prin-
cipal object, he fixed on one of the most lovely districts to
278
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
be found within a reasonable distance of the metropolis,
namely, the neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells.
(6
After some searching he found a suitable estate called
Sherwood," a mile or two to the east of the town on the
road to Pembury. He purchased this at the end of 1874,
and entered on its occupation early in the following year.
Shortly afterwards, being greatly pleased with the place,
he bought some land adjoining, extending the grounds to
about 160 acres, laid out new ornamental plantations,
considerably enlarged the house, and made many other
improvements in the property.
Among other alterations he fitted up on the pre-
mises a comprehensive electric "installation," in which
he showed how this wonderful agent could be reduced to
human servitude in operations of domestic utility. In one
of the outhouses he erected a steam-engine, which was
made to work a dynamo-electric machine, so producing
an electric current. This was utilized to light the house
with glow lights, and the grounds with arc lights; and it
also acted, by wires conducting it to various places, as
the transmitter of power to perform work required on the
estate, such as sawing, chaff-cutting, and so on. In the
lower part of the grounds was a spring of water; and by
carrying the conducting wires to that spot, the electricity
was made to pump the water up to the house and out-
offices. The waste steam from the engine was made
use of for warming purposes. This installation gave him
the power of trying many experiments with electricity,
and particularly those on vegetation, noticed in the next
chapter.
The designing and execution of the alterations in the
house and grounds were most successful. They not only
-formed for him a delightful and beneficial relaxation, but
they gave the whole place an attractiveness to him, which

[Page 279.
SHERWOOD-THE HOUSE.

[Page 279.
00
SHERWOOD.-THE GROUNDS.
CHAP. VII.]
279
FRENCH HONOURS,
he retained all his life long. He never was so happy as
when he was there.
The two Plates inserted show the house and grounds from
two of Sir William's favourite points of view.
The estimation in which Dr. Siemens was held in France
was shown by an honorary nomination as corresponding
member of the celebrated "Société d'Encouragement pour
l'Industrie Nationale”—an association founded in 1801 on
the quieting of the nation after the great Revolution, and
afterwards, in 1824, declared “d'utilité publique."
The following was the complimentary letter sent him on
this occasion :—
PARIS, le 3 Septembre, 1875.
J'ai l'honneur de vous annoncer que dans sa séance générale du
23 Juin, 1875, la Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie
Nationale vous a nommé son Correspondant dans le Comité des
Arts Economiques.
La Société s'estime heureuse de trouver cette occasion de vous
donner un témoignage de son estime, et de reconnaître ainsi les
services que vous rendez à l'Industrie et au Commerce. Elle
vous demande en échange, de l'aider dans sa mission, notamment
en lui signalant les progrès industriels qui s'accomplissent autour
de vous.
Je me félicite également d'être son interprête dans cette
circonstance et de pouvoir joindre à l'expression de ses senti-
ments celle de ma considération la plus distinguée.
Le President de la Société,
Sécrétaire perpetuel de l'Académie des Sciences.
J. B. DUMAS.
This honour ranks only after membership of the Institute
itself, which Dr. Siemens would in all probability soon have
obtained had his life been longer spared.
On the 28th of April, 1876, Mrs. Siemens's brother,
280
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
Lewis Gordon, died. From that time his mother and
sister came to have their home with Dr. and Mrs. Siemens,
he proving indeed a son and a brother.
In May, 1876, the “Loan Exhibition" of scientific appa-
ratus was held at South Kensington, and gave Dr. Siemens
a good deal of extra work. On the 13th May he was com-
manded to be at the exhibition to explain his model of
the "Faraday” and other apparatus to the Queen and to the
Empress of Germany. The following day he was honoured.
by an invitation from the German Empress to the German
Embassy, which was conveyed in the following letter:-
KAISERLICH DEUTSCHE BOTSCHAFT,
LONDON, den 10 Mai, 1876.
Auf Allerhöchsten Befehl Ihrer Majestät der Kaiserin-Königin
beehrt sich der Kaiserlich Deutsche Botschafter Herrn Dr.
Wilhelm Siemens, ganz ergebenst zu benachrichten, dass Ihre
Majestät Allergnädigst geruhen wird, ihn Sonntag den 14 Mai
1876, 3 Uhr nachmittags, auf der Kaiserlich deutschen Botschaft
zu empfangen.
JOHANNES BRANDIS.
A number of "Conferences," on different subjects, were
held during this exhibition; Dr. Siemens was president
of one on mechanical subjects, and he gave a lecture, on
the 27th July, on his bathometer and other measuring
appliances.
In the autumn of 1876 he visited the United States to
attend the Exhibition at Philadelphia, for which he had
been appointed by the Government one of the judges for
scientific and philosophical instruments. He left Liver-
pool, accompanied by his wife and her nephew, Mr. Joseph
Gordon (who was subsequently appointed one of his
executors), on the 22nd of September.
CHAP. VII.] TELEGRAPHIC CONFERENCE.
281
•
This American trip was very successful; much kind
attention was shown, and a great dinner was given in
Philadelphia in Dr. Siemens's honour. He visited Wash-
ington, and afterwards went on to Niagara. On his re-
turn home at the end of November, he found a large accu-
mulation of work; but the complete change, and the two
sea voyages, had been of much service to his health.
On 20th June, 1877, Dr. and Mrs. Siemens gave a large
"At home" in honour of his Majesty the Emperor of
Brazil, who had expressed a wish to spend an evening with
them.
In June, 1878, he was made an honorary member of one
of the oldest and most respected scientific societies, the
Cambridge Philosophical Society.
In 1879 the University of Glasgow, desiring to follow
Oxford in acknowledging distinguished merit, resolved to
award Dr. Siemens their honorary degree of LL.D. It was
given on the 23rd April in that year, being the occasion of
the installation of the Duke of Buccleuch as Chancellor of
the University.
In June, 1879, the "Universal Telegraphic Conference"
met in London, and on the 14th they visited the works at
Charlton. On the 9th of July, Dr. and Mrs. Siemens gave an
entertainment at Sherwood in their honour. All the members
of the congress, most of whom were naturally foreigners,
were invited; and in addition there were asked to meet
them a large number of guests distinguished either by rank
or celebrity, including foreign ambassadors, representatives
of scientific bodies, and persons of eminence in art or
literature.
The guests, numbering above 200, were conveyed from
London to Tunbridge Wells and back by a special train,
which was liberally placed at Dr. Siemens's disposal by
282
[CHAP. VII.
ACTIVE BUSINESS.
the South-Eastern Railway Company, without charge, as
a compliment to the telegraphic body.
There was a universal expression of gratification on the
part of the guests, at the handsome and cordial reception
they had met with, and the occasion was long remembered
as one of the most successful fêtes champêtres that had ever
been given.
At the end of the year, Dr. and Mrs. Siemens again left
for Italy.
CHAPTER VIII.
LAST YEARS.
Age 57 to 60.
1880 to 1883.
Change in Dr. Siemens's Mode of Treating his Subjects-Heat
-The Gas Fire-place-The Smoke Abatement Movement—
Gas as a Heating Agent generally-Electric Telegraphs-Electric
Lighting-Electric Transmission of Power-Electric Railways—
Lecture at the Institution of Civil Engineers-The Electric
Furnace Electric Vegetation-Electric Units—Miscellaneous
Subjects-The Constitution of the Sun and the Nature of the
Solar Energy--The Indian Engineering College—The Electrical
Thermometer-The Vienna Electric Exhibition-Presidency of
the British Association-Society of Arts-Institution of Civil
Engineers; the Howard Prize-French Electrical Exhibition
Lectures and Addresses-Domestic Life-The Turners' Com-
pany-Honour of Knighthood-Congratulations-Illness; Last
Work; Death.
THROUGH the remaining few years of Dr. Siemens's life
we find him carrying out still farther the course of action
he had followed in the preceding decade, namely, devoting
less attention to common-place commercial interests, and
more to subjects of an intellectual and speculative character.
He had now no necessity to work for money, and he
preferred to follow more recondite pursuits, partly for the
mental pleasure they afforded him, and partly, no
doubt, from a laudable ambition for personal fame. We
may easily trace this by remarking a changed mode of
treating his former subjects of occupation.,
284
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
In regard to Heat, he left his gigantic furnace and metal-
lurgical operations in a great measure to work themselves,
while he contributed to the public advantage by showing
how the smoke of towns might be prevented, the domestic
hearth made more comfortable, and ordinary heating
processes improved by new and superior applications of
fuel.
In Electricity, he was no longer seen in the workshops
or the Faraday, directing the cable-spinning or the cable-
laying; this he left to his partners and his well-trained
staff. He now preferred to study how the electric agency
might be more extensively applied to effect novel modes
of illumination; or to melt substances hitherto infusible;
or to take the place of the solar ray in the uprearing
of the vegetable kingdom; or to bring the energy of the
distant waterfall to grind corn in the city; or to
Drag the slow barge, and drive the rapid car.
Or, putting aside the practical use of this mysterious force,
he would devise means to measure its power, or to define
its properties.
Even his mechanical inventions took a more advanced
scientific character. He would contrive a thermometer for
testing the heat inside the glowing furnace, or in other
places inaccessible to ordinary measurement; he would
sound the depths of the sea by simply looking at an instru-
ment placed on the deck of a vessel; or discover how
much sunlight illumined the mollusks who lived on the
ocean floor.
He devoted a large portion of this last term of his life to
two scientific objects of the highest character. In the first
place he undertook for a year the presidency and direction
of one of the largest and most noted scientific bodies in
the world; and, secondly, he startled the astronomers
CHAP. VIII.]
285
THE GAS FIREPLACE.
and physicists of Europe by an attempt, the result of long
and careful study, to apply familiar physical principles to
the solution of some of the most recondite problems con-
nected with the solar system.
On the other hand, he was not too proud to descend
from these lofty heights whenever he could make his
acquirements and talents useful. He would take the chair
at a meeting of his brother engineers in Paris; would act
as a judge at an electric exhibition in Vienna; would give
evidence before half a dozen Royal Commissions; would
lecture at literary institutions; preside at charity dinners ;
and give away prizes to boys and girls in country schools.
It delighted him to do what would benefit somebody, and
he was by no means insensible to the rewards of gratitude
and honour that his labours earned for him.
HEAT SUBJECTS.
In this latter period of his life Dr. Siemens kept up his
interest in the subject of Heat.
His inventions and works connected with the applica-
tions of this form of energy had come to a splendid fruition,
not only profitable to himself, but highly illustrative of
scientific progress, and largely beneficial to industrial
interests. But he did not by any means
not by any means consider
his task in this domain of science finished; he believed
there were still many further applications to be made, for
the benefit of mankind, of the great principles he had been
concerned with, and he lost no opportunity of insisting on
them.
The Gas Fireplace.
One of these inventions was of a kind that he intended
to make interesting to every household; it was an improve-
ment to the domestic fireplace.
286
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
One of the chief advantages of his Regenerative Gas
Furnace was that it would, in producing its greatest heat-
ing effects, make little or no smoke. He had noticed what
indeed was only too patent to everybody, that one of the
great evils of life in the metropolis was the pall of dirty
fog which so often hung over its houses; and he knew,
what many people did not, that the cause of its greatest
annoyance was the mixture, with the natural aqueous
vapour, of particles of soot emerging from the millions of
chimneys in London buildings. Factory fires might be
amended by his furnace constructions; but these, in London,
were comparatively few, and the great mass of the evil
arose from the domestic grates distributed among the
population.
Dr. Siemens, therefore, set his inventive powers to work,
to see whether he could not do something to improve the
domestic grate, and in particular to abolish, or at least
diminish, the smoke produced therefrom.
After experimenting for some time on his own premises,
and satisfying himself that the ideas he had formed were
sound and practical, he made his plan known by an article.
published in the scientific periodical, Nature, of Nov. 18th,
1880. It was headed "A New Cure for Smoke," and it
commenced as follows:-
The growing obscurity which distinguishes the winter atmo-
sphere of London has disposed men to consider whether it is an
indispensable evil connected with the use of coal in great centres
of population, or whether means can be found of providing the
warmth and comfort which the copious use of mineral fuel affords
us without having to pay the penalty of dispensing with the solar
ray, of finding ourselves and everything we touch covered with
soot, and of occasionally having, even at mid-day, to grope our
way with a feeling akin to suffocation.
I am decidedly of opinion that the evil is one which not only
CHAP. VIII.]
287
THE GAS FIREPLACE.
admits of remedy, but that its cure would result from a closer
attention to the principles of economy in the use of fuel.
After alluding to improvements made in large manu-
facturing operations by his Regenerative Gas Furnace, he
continued :—
Since by the employment of gaseous fuel results such as these
are realized, there seems no à priori reason why analogous results
should not attend its application on a smaller scale, even down
to the means of heating our apartments, which, although a small
application in each individual instance, amounts, in the aggregate,
to the largest of all the uses of mineral fuel.
He then mentioned the fact that what were called “ 'gas
fires" were frequently used, these being simply jets of coal
gas, or coal gas mixed with air, allowed to play on pieces
of asbestos or pumice stone, which after a time became
heated, and so radiated off heat into the room. But he
remarked that such fires were very expensive, gave insuffi-
cient warmth, were cheerless in appearance, produced heat
of an unpleasant character, and often gave out disagreeable
smells.
He then described his plan. While retaining the use of
coal gas, as supplied by the gas companies, he proposed to
use it in a different way. Instead of letting it heat masses
of inert matter, he allowed it to play upon pieces of coke,
which were thereby ignited and burnt, serving as fuel.
The manner in which this was done was exceedingly
simple; in fact it was nothing more than inserting a few
gas jets in the front of an ordinary grate filled with coke,
when the combination of the gas flames and the burning
coke formed a fire very much superior in every respect to
the ordinary gas arrangement, and in fact quite as satis-
factory as the usual domestic fire from raw coal.
This, although apparently so simple, was really a very
288
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
scientific invention; for its principle was that of re-supply-
ing to the coke the hydrocarbons which had been abstracted
from it, and so restoring the original elements of coal, but
in an improved and refined form.
Another scientific feature in the grate was that of supply-
ing it, by a very simple and ingenious arrangement, with
heated air, so as to increase the activity of combustion.
It was, in fact, one element of his regenerative gas furnace
brought into the drawing-room.
He claimed the following advantages from this kind of
fire as compared with the common one :—
1. Absence of smoke.
2. Greater heating power at less cost.
3. Facility of lighting, without the usual "laying" of
paper and wood.
4. Keeping alive without attention or stirring.
5. Ease of regulation and adjustment, according to the
heating effect required.
6. Capability of being lighted, or allowed to go out, at
any moment, which is not only a great convenience, but
means considerable economy. *
The principles of the grate were applied to larger kitchen
ranges. A gentleman in the City of London wrote, July,
1882:-
The Siemens's apparatus recently fitted to a large Kitchener in
my house at Chislehurst is working admirably. Having watched
its operation very closely, I am convinced that in cleanliness and
efficiency it is the best outcome of the recent Smoke Abatement
Exhibition.
* The author has used two of these fires for some years, one in a
sitting-room and one in a bed-room, and they are found most effective
and most convenient. They are sometimes used with coke and some-
times with coal, but usually with a mixture of the two. The invention
may be characterized as a great domestic blessing. It is made for
sale by Messrs. Sugg & Co., Gas Engineers, Westminster.
CHAP. VIII.]
289
SMOKE ABATEMENT.
I find that with an almost inappreciable consumption of gas,
the coke, which is the only fuel used, soon ignites, and by regular
feeding at the top, a brilliant smokeless fire can be maintained.
No nuisance of any kind is created, all the gaseous products of
combustion being carried up the chimney.
The absence of smoke in the flues and chimneys is the most
remarkable feature of this ingenious invention, and if its originator
receives no further rewards, he will ever command the choicest
blessings of grateful scullerymaids.
When first erected the innovation was assailed in the fiercest
way by the cook, and all the latent caloric in her system seemed
scarcely sufficient to give forcible expression to her injured feel-
ings. But by a judicious combination of tact with firmness, in
addition to my own personal supervision, she has become, in the
short space of three months, a sincere and ardent admirer of the
system.
Of the saving of cost I am not yet able to speak, but I am
making comparative experiments in this direction.
On this latter point Dr. Siemens had some trials made
under his own superintendence, with kitcheners fitted up
by the Falkirk Iron Company. The temperature in the
ovens was got up to 246° Fahr. in an hour, with the con-
sumption of 8 cubic feet of gas; up to 500° in another hour
with an additional 7 cubic feet; and up to 580° in another
three-quarters of an hour with 4 cubic feet more. The
coke consumed was 22 lbs. until the fire went out in the
afternoon. The cost in another case was said to be 4 d.
for coke and gas for the 12 hours in a medium-sized range.
The Smoke Abatement Movement,
About the same time that Dr. Siemens brought out his
grate, a movement was set on foot for abating the nuisance
of smoke in London, an object in which he heartily
concurred.
After some preliminary proceedings, a meeting was held
U
290
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
at Grosvenor House on the 24th July, 1881. Dr. Siemens
attended, and in a speech of considerable length moved the
first resolution: "That the present smoky condition of the
atmosphere of London injuriously affects the health and
happiness of the community, besides destroying public
buildings, deteriorating perishable fabrics, and entailing in
various ways unnecessary expenditure.”
He attended and spoke at several other meetings. His
arguments were always the same, namely, urging the sub-
stitution of gas as fuel, for raw coal.
As a result of this movement it was decided to
organize an exhibition of improved fire grates, cooking and
warming apparatus, furnaces, and apparatus of all kinds,
either for domestic or industrial use, devised to prevent
smoke, or to consume smokeless fuel. This was held in
the Exhibition Buildings at South Kensington; it was
opened on November 30, 1881, and remained open till 14th
February, 1882.
Prizes were instituted for the most meritorious devices.
Dr. Siemens himself offered 100 guineas "for the
best method or arrangement for utilizing fuel as a heating
agent for domestic and industrial purposes, combining the
utmost economy and freedom from smoke and noxious
vapours." Half this was awarded to the Dowson Economic
Gas Company; and the other half to the Falkirk Iron
Company for their gas and coke burning kitchener.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales visited the
exhibition on the 4th January, 1882. He examined in
detail the various sections, and received explanations from
the committee and from various exhibitors. He stayed fully
to inspect the gas, coke, and anthracite fires on Dr. Siemens's
principle, which were explained to him by Dr. Siemens him-
self. His Royal Highness on leaving expressed the pleasure
he had felt in viewing the exhibition, and his belief that
CHAP. VIII.]
291
SMOKE ABATEMENT.
the appliances brought before the public would be useful to
the community; he considered, he said, that the executive
committee and all concerned were doing a great work
from a sanitary point of view.
Another meeting was held at the Mansion House on the
16th of July, 1883, the chair being filled at first by the
Lord Mayor, and subsequently by the Duke of West-
minster. Sir William Siemens attended and made an
effective speech.
Sir William Thomson, in his obituary notice of Sir
William Siemens, written a few days after his death, says :-
On the 19th of this November the writer of the present article
was accosted in a manner of which most persons occupied with
science have not infrequent experience, "Can you scientific
people not save us from those black and yellow City fogs?" The
instant answer was, "Sir William Siemens is going to do it; and I
hope, if we live a few years longer, we shall have seen almost the
last of them." How little we thought that we were that very evening
to lose the valuable life, from which we were promising ourselves
such great benefits! May we not hope that, after all, the promise
was not vain, and that, although Sir William Siemens is gone from
among us, the great movement for smoke abatement, in which he
has so earnestly laboured during the last three years of his life,
may have full effect?
After the Smoke Abatement Exhibition was over, Dr.
Siemens received an intimation that the Prince of Wales
would like one of the gas fires fitted up at Marlborough
House. Dr. Siemens gladly undertook the commission,
and caused a grate to be erected there under his own
superintendence.
It answered well, and His Royal Highness was pleased
to express his thanks to Dr. Siemens by sending him his
photographed portrait, which was accompanied by the
following letter:-
U 2
292
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
MARLBOROUGH HOUSE, PALL MALL, S.W.,
9 Februar, 1882.
VEREHRTESTER HERR DOCTOR,-
Erst gestern Abend hatte ich Gelegenheit vom Prinzen
von Wales zu hören, und mich durch eigenen Augenschein zu
überzeigen, wie vorzüglich die Aenderungen an den neuen Kaminen
ausgefallen sind. Die Erwartungen Seiner Königlichen Hoheit
sind nicht nur dadurch weit übertroffen worden, sondern auch
seine Wünsche in jeder Hinsicht vollkommen befriedigt worden.
In der That scheint das jetzige Arrangement alle Vortheile eines
Gasfeuers mit dem freundlichen Anblick eines Kohlenfeuers zu
vereinigen.
Seine Königliche Hoheit trägt mir daher auf Ihnen noch
einmal seinen aufrichtigen Dank für Ihre gefälligen Bemühungen
in dieser Angelegenheit auszusprechen, und Sie zu bitten beifol-
gendes Portrait als ein Zeichen seiner Anerkennung annehmen
zu wollen. Der Prinz hofft, dass sich bald eine Gelegenheit
bieten möge, um Ihnen persönlich den Ausdruck seiner Dank-
barkeit wiederholen zu können.
Mit freundlichen Grüssen bin ich
Ihr ergebenster,
M. HOLZMANN.
Gas as a Heating Agent.
Following out the ideas he had so often promulgated,
Dr. Siemens continued to urge the importance and benefit
of using gas as a heating agent generally; and he took,
in connexion with this idea, much interest in the gas
manufacture.
In June, 1881, he read a Paper on "Gas Supply" before
the British Association of Gas Managers, meeting at Bir-
mingham. Referring to his well-known advocacy of electric
lighting, he said :—
I present myself before you both as a rival and a friend: as a
rival because I am one of the promoters of electric illumination,
CHAP. VIII.]
293
HEATING BY GAS.
and as a friend because I have advocated and extended the use
of gas for heating purposes during the last twenty years, and am
by no means disposed to relinquish my advocacy of gas both as
an illuminating and as a heating agent.
He explained that although electric lighting must be
preferred for lighthouses, halls, and great thoroughfares, yet
gas would probably hold its own as a domestic illuminant,
owing to its great convenience of management and use,
and he described an improved burner, by which the illu-
minating power might be much increased.
But the principal object of his lecture was to convince
gas engineers and gas managers that there was a largely ex-
tended future open for the use of coal gas as a heating agent,
which, he said, had been far too much neglected hitherto.
He recommended the gas companies to encourage this;
and he suggested an ingenious plan of dividing the product
of the retorts into two kinds of gas, which might be dis-
tributed to the public for lighting and heating purposes
respectively, with advantages in both respects.
He followed up the same subject in lectures about the
same time to the Society of Chemical Industry, and to the
people of Glasgow, under the auspices of the “Glasgow
Science Lectures Association."
But he went farther, for he anticipated that the time
might come when, by means of some arrangement analo-
gous to his gas producer, gas might be made in the coal
districts, and supplied by a gigantic system of distribution
to the public generally as fuel. This, on a small scale, had
been one of the features of the scheme he had promoted in
Birmingham in 1863 (see page 155); but it was clearly in
advance of the time, it was not understood, and failed to
make any impression.
But he told the people of Glasgow, in 1881, that their
town, with its adjoining coal-field, appeared to be a par-
294
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
ticularly favourable locality for putting such a plan to a
practical trial, and he added that when thus supplied with
gaseous fuel, the town would not only possess a clear
atmosphere, but would be relieved of the most objection-
able portion of the street traffic. And a year later he told
the British Association that he thought the time not far
distant when both rich and poor would resort to gas as the
most convenient, the cleanest, and the cheapest of heating
agents, and when raw coal would be seen only at the
collieries.
In the meantime he endeavoured to show that by
some simple modifications of his regenerative furnace,
he could apply the gas producing process on a small
scale to ordinary steam-boilers and other applications
of fuel. He had established some apparatus for this
purpose at Sherwood; and only a few days before his
death he was hopefully experimenting on a method for
the smokeless supply of heat to a steam-boiler, by the
aid of a small gas producer. He had told Sir William
Thomson that, without waiting for the very highest attain-
able economy, he expected, by using the gas from his
producer as fuel even on a comparatively small scale,
to be able to obtain better economy of coal for motive
power than by burning the coal directly under the boiler.
Sir William Thomson after relating this adds, “There is
something inexpressibly sad, even in respect to a com-
paratively small matter like this, to see the active prosecu-
tion of an experiment so full of interest and so near to a
practical solution suddenly cut short by death."
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS.
At the end of 1880 a change was made in regard to the
proprietorship of the Charlton factory.
CHAP. VIII.]
295
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
The firm had hitherto belonged to the three brothers,
Werner, William, and Carl Siemens, in partnership. This
partnership was now dissolved, and the business was trans-
ferred to a limited liability company, under the name of
Siemens Brothers & Co., Limited. The three brothers re-
mained, with Mr. Loeffler, as directors, and Dr. C. W. Sie-
mens was the chairman.
The firm continued to execute large contracts, among
which were several cables across the Atlantic.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
It has been mentioned in the last chapter that so soon
as electric lighting became a practical thing it was taken
up, energetically, by the Charlton firm.
The work done in this way has been of very varied kind,
sometimes in supplying the dynamos, or the lamps, or other
separate portions of the apparatus essential for the pur-
pose; sometimes in undertaking large contracts for entire
installations. It must suffice here to mention a few of the
most important of the latter cases.
British Museum.—This installation of the electric light
was made in 1879, and the electric light has since been
regularly employed on foggy days, and in extension of the
hours of reading in the library, during the winter. The
lighting of the reading-room (as used during the first
winter, modifications and extensions having been since
introduced) was effected by means of four dynamos of
medium size, supplying electricity to four inverted pen-
dulum lamps of approximately 3000 candle-power each,
suspended at a height of about 30 feet from the floor. In
other portions of the building fifteen smaller arc lights,
each affording a well diffused illumination of 400 candle-
power, were distributed; whilst the office, lavatories, &c.,
296
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
were supplied with 40 Swan incandescent lamps of sixteen
candle-power each. The current was supplied by means
of two alternate current machines. It was stated by the
electrician of the British Museum that the maintenance of
the apparatus, including fuel, carbons, and attendance for
four months, cost six shillings per hour for a total illumi-
nation of 18,800 candles.
Royal Albert Dock.-The illumination of this dock by
means of the electric light was commenced in October,
1880. The lanterns containing the electric lamps are sus-
pended from latticed iron posts about 80 feet high, the
area illuminated by each lamp being about 9 acres. The
distribution of the light is so effected that ships can be
docked and undocked with equal facility by night as by
day. The total water area illuminated is about 100 acres,
and comprises the various docks, several miles of quays, the
locks and jetties, the warehouses and sheds both externally
and internally, whilst the new hotel adjoining the Gallions
station is fitted up with 100 Swan incandescent lamps.
Continuous-current dynamo machines are employed, which
are distributed over four stations, each worked by a
separate steam-engine. A commutator is arranged so that
the current of any machine may readily be measured by
means of an electro dynamometer and turned on to any
lamp, whilst a detector in connection with each lamp
serves to warn the attendant should any lamp be acci-
dentally extinguished.
The Savoy Theatre.-The first application of electricity
to the illumination of theatres was made at the Grand
Opera House in Paris. Almost simultaneously Mr. D'Oyly
Carte determined to light the above theatre. The internal
illumination is produced by means of 1158 Swan lights, of
which 150 are in the auditorium; 220 are employed for the
illumination of the numerous dressing-rooms, corridors and
CHAP. VIII.]
297
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
passages belonging to the theatre, while no less than 824 are
employed for the lighting of the stage. These lamps, as at
first arranged, were worked in parallel circuit in six groups,
five of which comprised about 200 lamps each, and the
sixth 166 lamps. The current within the theatre is sup-
plied by means of six alternate current and six exciting
machines, whilst a continuous-current dynamo produces
the powerful electric arc suspended outside of the theatre
over the principal entrance. Each machine is controlled
by a regulating handle, which, by throwing into its cor-
responding magnet circuit greater or less resistance, lessens
or increases the brightness of the lamps by degrees. This
variation in resistance takes place in the circuit exciting
the field magnets. When a series of lights is lowered, in-
creased resistance is thrown into the circuit of the dynamo
machine, which is exciting the magnets of the alternate
current generator corresponding to that particular series
of lights, the intensity of the magnetic field of the latter
machine is thereby reduced, and consequently the currents
induced from that field and transmitted to the lamp circuit
are diminished in strength; by thus weakening the mag-
netic field, the mechanical resistance to rotation is corres-
pondingly reduced, and therefore less power is required to
drive the machine. The article in Engineering of the 3rd
March, 1882, from which the above is abstracted, concludes
thus:-" In an artistic and scenic point of view nothing
could be more completely successful than the present light-
ing of the Savoy Theatre; the illumination is brilliant
without being dazzling; and while being slightly whiter
than gas, the accusation of 'ghastliness' so often urged
against the light of the electric arc can in no way be
applied. In addition to this the light is absolutely steady,
and, thanks to the enterprise of Mr. D'Oyly Carte, it is
now possible for the first time in the history of the modern
298
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
theatre, to sit for a whole evening and enjoy a dramatic
performance in a cool and pure atmosphere.
""
Godalming. This is the first town which has combined
public and private lighting by electricity in one commercial
undertaking, so that electric light is supplied to private
houses at a cost approximating that of gas. It was ori-
ginally contemplated to use the natural water power of the
district; but it was found to be so variable as not to be
economically applicable. Near the Town Hall and in some
other important positions arc lights are employed, whilst
the streets, to the total exclusion of gas, and private houses
are lighted up with incandescent lamps. Two electrical
machines are used, one to supply the arc lights, and the
other incandescent lights, public and private. Two leading
wires are arranged in two circuits, the one comprising the
six arc lights and their machine, and the other the second
electrical machine, and the two mains between which all
the incandescent lamps, whether public or private, are
inserted. When the occupier of a house wishes to use
incandescent lamps, branch wires are connected at suitable
places to the main cables and led into the house, a switch
being inserted for the purpose of turning on or cutting off
the entire supply at will.*
There
There are nine
The Austral Steamship.—The firm also applied electric
lighting to ships; one of the largest examples being the
Orient Company's steamship of this name. The whole of
the public rooms, the engine-room, the pantries, and the
passages are lighted by electricity.
arc-lights, five of which are in the engine-room and
four on deck, the latter having deep conical lanterns,
to provide a good light over the hatches when load-
ing or unloading. The incandescence lamps, of which
* This lighting is at present discontinued, as subscribers enough
could not be found.
CHAP. VIII.]
299
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.
there are 170 in use, are arranged upon two separate sets
of conducting wires, each set being supplied with elec-
tricity by a separate steam-engine and electric generator.
Arrangements are made by which, should one engine break
down, the other can be readily coupled up to drive both
generators; such an accident would only extinguish half
the lamps in the principal saloons and passages, as one
half the lamps are supplied with electricity from one set,
and the other half from another set of leading wires. The
vessel is divided into sections, each provided with a distinct
set of branch wires and keys, which afford means whereby
the lamps in any section may be turned on or off inde-
pendently of other sections. The safety of each section is
ensured by the insertion of a fusible bridge at the junction
of each branch wire with its main, the fusible plug melting
if more electricity flows through any branch than the wire
is intended to convey.
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.
We have mentioned in the last chapter Dr. Siemens's
remarks (suggested by the Falls of Niagara) on the possi-
bility of using the electric current as a means of transmit-
ting mechanical power. During the present period the
idea became an accomplished fact, the transmission being
effected for several practical objects.
The most remarkable of these was the application of
electricity for the propulsion of trains on a line of Railway.
The idea of doing this presented itself to Dr. Werner
Siemens as long ago as 1867,* when he discussed, at the
* The subject of electric transmission of power, particularly as
applied on railways, was fully treated by Mr. Alexander Siemens in a
paper laid before the Society of Arts on the 20th May, 1881; and in
another paper, in connection with Mr. Edward Hopkinson, on the 11th
300
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
Paris Exhibition, with other members of the jury, the
possibility of so working railways elevated above the houses
in towns. But the dynamo-machine was not at that time
sufficiently developed to admit of a practical execution of
the idea, and when the present more perfect forms were
invented, electric lighting monopolized for a time all the
attention that was bestowed on the practical application of
the machines.
In 1878 Werner Siemens was reminded of his original
idea by the owner of a coal-mine asking him to scheme a
locomotive to draw the coal-waggons in the mine. The
result was that he worked out a design, and constructed a
small railway on this plan. This was exhibited at a local
exhibition in 1879. It was a line having a gauge of one
metre, and laid down in a circle 900 yards long. On this
a train of three or four carriages was placed, and on the
first carriage a medium-sized dynamo-electric machine was
so fixed and connected with the axle of one pair of wheels
as to give motion thereto. The two rails, being laid on
wooden sleepers, were sufficiently insulated to serve for
electric conductors. Between these rails was fixed a bar
of iron on wooden supports, through which the current was
conveyed to the train by means of metallic brushes fixed
to the driving carriage, while the return circuit was com-
pleted through the rails themselves. At the station the
centre bar and two rails were connected electrically with
the poles of a dynamo-electric machine, similar in every
way to that on the carriage, and which received motion
from a steam-engine.
Between twenty and thirty persons could be accommo-
dated in the carriages, and the conductor, riding on the
April, 1883. From these excellent papers, and from Sir William
Siemens's lecture (hereafter mentioned), the particulars in the text are
chiefly taken.
CHAP. VIII.]
30T
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.
first one, could, by means of a communicator, start, stop,
or reverse the motion at pleasure. The engine exerted
5 horse-power, and the train travelled at 15 to 20 miles an
hour. The railway worked for several months, affording
great amusement to the visitors at the exhibition.
Dr. William Siemens brought this novel application of
electric power before the Society of Telegraph Engineers
in June, 1880. He expatiated on the capabilities of the
plan, particularly one remarkable feature of it, which may
be thus described:-
When the motion of the train is slow, the force acting
on it is at its maximum, and owing to this it starts with
a remarkable energy. When the motion increases, the
accelerating power diminishes; so that the driving force
regulates itself according to the velocity of the train.
On an ascending gradient the speed diminishes and the
propelling power increases; on
on a falling gradient the
reverse effect takes place; and in the latter case, if the
train runs down by gravity and over-runs, so to speak, the
power of the dynamo, the current will serve as a brake to
check the speed. In all these particulars the electric motor,
therefore, fulfils perfectly, by automatic action, all the func-
tions of the driving power on an ordinary locomotive line.
The success of the little Berlin railway justified applica-
tions on a larger scale; and Messrs. Siemens and Halske
laid before the authorities in Berlin a plan for an elevated
railway to be so worked; but it was objected to by the
Emperor and the inhabitants, and the concession was not
granted.
Subsequently, however, the firm obtained permission to
build a railway, on the ground level, from Lichterfelde, a
suburban station on the Berlin-Anhalt Railway, to the
Military Academy. It was opened in the spring of 1881
for regular traffic, and has been in use ever since.
302
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
It is a single line of one metre gauge, a little over 1
English miles long. It is generally worked on the same
plan as the model at the exhibition, except that there is
no middle rail, one of the ordinary rails being used as the
positive, and the other as the negative conductor; and
as the currents are of low tension, it is not necessary
to provide further insulation than the ordinary wood
sleepers.
The power is a steam-engine, stationed near to the line,
working a dynamo that sends the current along one rail
and receives it from the other. There is one car, like an
ordinary tramcar, carrying twenty persons. The other
dynamo on the carriage is placed underneath the car, and
transmits its movement to the whole by means of spiral
steel springs. The tires of the wheels are insulated from
their axles, and are in electrical connection with brass rings
fastened on the axles, but insulated from them. Contact
brushes press against these brass rings, and from them the
current is conducted to the dynamo machine, and sets it in
motion. The speed is limited by local regulations to 20
kilometres (12 English miles) an hour; but it could run
at double this speed with perfect safety.
The line has worked since 1881 without hitch or acci-
dent of any kind.
Messrs. Siemens & Halske have also applied the system
to haulage in mines, at Zaukerode, in Saxony. In this
latter case the rails could not be used for the conductors,
as they were being frequently meddled with; but the
current was taken along the roof of the workings by an
inverted T-iron rail, on which a contact carriage, connected
with the engine by a flexible cable, was made freely to
slide. The engine could draw 8 tons at 7 miles an
hour.
A short line of the same kind was also laid down at the
CHAP. VIII.]
303
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.
Paris Electric Exhibition of 1881, when cars ran at regular
intervals from the Place de la Concorde to the Exhibition
building, and 95,000 passengers were conveyed in seven
weeks upon this novel railway. Here, also, the overhead
conduction was applied, as more out of the way of the
crowd.
Another line was fixed at the Electrical Exhibition at
Vienna, in 1883. This was larger than the Paris one; but
here the rails formed the conductors. The length was one
mile. There were two cars, carrying 100 persons, and a
speed could be attained of 20 miles an hour.
A larger application has been made by the London firm
to a railway in the north of Ireland. In 1878 a concession
was granted to the Ulster Steam Tramway Company for
making a tramway from Portrush (the terminus of the
Belfast and Northern Counties Railway) to Bush Mills, in
the Bush Valley, 6 miles distant, to be worked by steam.
The company was unable to raise the capital, and became.
insolvent. An Act of Parliament was then obtained, in
1880, by two brothers of the name of Traill, and the line
was completed and opened for traffic by steam cars in
January, 1883.
Messrs. Traill, however, having heard of the success of
the electrical railway, had prudently obtained authority in
their Act to use electricity; and, as there was abundant
water-power available in the neighbourhood, they consulted
Dr. Siemens as to the advisability of adopting it. Dr.
Siemens willingly joined in the undertaking, and the work
was put in hand.
While making sure of their traffic by their steam-cars,
the proprietors, in conjunction with Messrs. Siemens, who
were ably represented on the spot by Dr. Edward Hopkin-
son, conducted a series of experiments as to the best way
304
[CHAP. VIII,
LAST YEARS.
of applying the power. It was at first attempted to convey
the electric current along the line by the ordinary rails:
This answered very well for nearly two miles; but beyond
that the leakage became too great, and another plan was
adopted.
In this the two rails, 3 feet apart, are not insulated from
the ground, but being joined electrically by means of copper
staples, they form the return circuit, the current being con-
veyed to the car through a T-iron placed on short standards,
and insulated by means of caps of non-conducting material.
When a gap occurs, such as at a cross road, the T-iron is
stopped and commenced again at the other side of the
gap, the ends being connected by an insulated conductor
below ground. In order to span this gap there are two
collecting brushes attached to the car, one in front and the
other towards the back, and the gap being a little less
than the distance between the two brushes, the one brush
catches the opposite side before the other one leaves. This
simple arrangement gets over the difficulty of crossing bye-
roads.
The line was laid with steep gradients varying from I in
45 to 1 in 30, including a long incline of 1 in 38.
The electric arrangements being completed on the altered
plan, a first start was made with the new power in No-
vember, 1882, and although the trial took place in a heavy
down-pour of rain, the insulation did not fail. Further
experiments and adjustments were however required, and
it was some months before the whole was got into good
order.
On the 18th March, 1883, Dr. Siemens, writing to Sir
William Thomson, said :—
The electric car has beaten the steam-car in pulling a loaded
waggon up the long incline of 1 in 38, and we shall soon be
ready for public traffic. The present insulation is very perfect,
CHAP. VIII.]
305
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.
4
and will enable us to increase the electric pressure very
considerably.
In the preliminary trials the electric current was pro-
duced by a dynamo worked by a small stationary steam-
engine of about 15 horse-power at Portrush. But as soon
as Messrs. Traill saw that the application was a success,
they took steps to carry out the design they had from
the first in view, namely, to take advantage of water-power
in the neighbourhood.
There was a salmon-leap on the river Bush, about a
mile from the Bush Mills end of the stream; and after
some delay by legal proceedings, the control of the water-
power was secured. Two turbines were obtained from
America, capable of giving out about 45 horse-power each,
and were made to work the dynamo, the current passing by
an underground cable to the line.
As it was thought that the introduction of this railway
would be an event of importance for the country, appli-
cation was made to the Lord Lieutenant, Earl Spencer,
asking him if he would honour the proprietors by opening
it. His lordship's consent was given in the following note,
in which the kind consideration for Sir William Siemens
and the desire for his presence are noteworthy :-
DEAR SIR WILLIAM,-
ALTHORP, NORTHAMPTON,
1 August, 1883.
Mr. Traill is anxious that the opening of the Electric
Railway at Portrush shall be on Friday, September 14th, rather
than on Monday, September 17th.
I am ready for either day, but it must be settled so as to secure
your presence.
I have a preference for the earlier date, and I expect that
Monday is not a very convenient day for visitors.
Yours truly,
SPENCER.
X
306
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
Subsequent alteration in the time had to be made, and
the railway was formally opened on the 28th of September,
1883. Sir William Siemens was present, accompanied by
his local coadjutors, his friends Sir William Thomson,
Sir Frederick Bramwell, the Astronomer Royal of Ireland,
and others interested in the work.
It has since been regularly used for public traffic. The
working speed is limited by the Board of Trade Regulation
to 10 miles an hour, but it will run on a level at 12 miles.
Some fear was entertained of danger by persons touching
the exposed rails through which the current was passing;
but it was found that no evil could occur so long as the
electro-motive force did not exceed a certain amount (250
volts), and self-acting arrangements were adopted to secure
this as a maximum tension.
The leakage by defective insulation does not exceed
5 per cent. when four cars are running.
The working cost is found to be 25 per cent. less than
with steam locomotive power, taking no account of the
saving by the less destructive action on the permanent way.
Since Sir William Siemens's death, Messrs. Traill have
extended the railway from Bush Mills to Derrock, some
miles farther, which brings it to the immediate neighbour-
hood of the scenery of the Giants' Causeway."
*
It is clear, therefore, that the feasibility of working rail-
ways by the electric transmission of power has been amply
proved. Dr. Siemens did not pretend that this mode of
propulsion could compete with the steam locomotive for
railways generally, but he did look forward to a consider-
able use for it in cases where exceptional circumstances
might justify its application and give it a preference.
A little Electric Railway of a mile long was constructed and opened
in August, 1883, by Mr. Magnus Volk, on the shore under the East
Cliff at Brighton, Messrs. Siemens's dynamos and motors being used.
CHAP. VIII.]
307
ELECTRIC PROPULSION.
It would, he conceived, be peculiarly applicable to tram-
ways within populous districts; but in such places the
insulated conductors might involve a serious difficulty.
He considered it would be better in these cases to resort
to the storage of electric energy in secondary batteries,
which might be carried in the car itself. In many cases
these might be charged by the dynamo when the car was
running down hill. In like manner, for the propulsion
of boats, the secondary battery might be used and would
form part of the keel-weight.
One of the greatest advantages of electric propulsion
would be the entire immunity from all the evils of the pro-
ducts of combustion. On this latter ground, Dr. Siemens
predicted its probable use in long tunnels or underground
lines, where the steam locomotive had the great disadvan-
tage of fouling the air. He particularly alluded to the
underground railways in the metropolis, in regard to which
he said :-
Under these circumstances it seems to me almost a pity that on
the Embankment there should be made that series of unsightly
and noisome ventilators to disembarrass the underground railway
of steam and products of combustion, when it can be clearly
demonstrated that electric propulsion would, for such lines, be not
only the most agreeable, but also the cheapest mode of traction.
Dr. Siemens was not satisfied with talking about this
matter; as usual with him he tried to get his idea carried
into practice.
About 1863 a scheme had been launched for connecting
Charing Cross with Waterloo Station by a pneumatic rail-
way, with a tunnel under the Thames. The works were
commenced, but were soon after abandoned. The scheme
was taken up again in a modified form, and an Act was
obtained for it in the year 1882. It was proposed to con-
X 2
308
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
struct a double line of railway from a point near Charing
Cross, passing under the Embankment and the river
Thames, and terminating at Vine Street, Lambeth, under
the loop-line station of the Waterloo terminus.
Dr. Siemens took advantage of this scheme to endeavour
to introduce the electric system into it, and he prepared
plans for the whole working of the railway in all details.
But there was a difficulty in raising money for the under-
taking, and the work did not proceed.
OTHER APPLICATIONS OF ELECTRICAL POWER.
The electric transmission of power has also been applied
to other purposes. It has been used to propel boats, to
drive tricyles; and the attempt has been made, with fair
success, to effect the propulsion and steering of balloons
through electric agency.*
It has also been used for lifts and hoists, to work pumps,
to turn ventilating fans in collieries, to move machines in
engineering shops, and for many other purposes.
Indeed it has been pointed out that at some future time
electric mains may be made to run along our streets, which
will be supplied from central stations, and from which
currents of electricity may be drawn, as water and gas are
now. These may be used either for lighting or for trans-
mitting power, and in the latter case they may not only
serve for the purposes of trade, but by the extreme sim-
plicity of the apparatus required, they may bring mechanical
power into use for small purposes to a much greater extent
than at present.
In the United States the application of electric motors
See Papers by the author of this work in the Minutes of Proceed-
ings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vols. 67 (1882), and 81 (1885).
CHAP. VIII.]
309
ELECTRIC POWER.
is already rivalling, and will soon excel in importance the
application of electricity to lighting purposes. At Boston
hundreds of motors are supplied by electricity from central
stations, and in many other towns the number is very great.
It has been proposed to use electric transmission in large
mills to supersede the use of shafting and belts, which not
only waste an enormous amount of engine-power, but are
very costly to construct and maintain.
In Switzerland, where water-power is plentiful, its utiliz-
ation by electricity is already largely used. Towns are
lighted and supplied with power from sources miles away;
and in Geneva, within a radius of a mile and a quarter
there are no fewer than 175 motors at work, varying
from to 70 horses' power.
The idea of Sir William Siemens of making use in this
way of the power from Niagara falls, though considered
only fanciful at the time, seems likely to be in some degree
realized; for it is stated that plant is being put down there
to distribute the power to neighbouring towns, including
Buffalo, which is twenty miles distant. The amount of
power to be so distributed is stated at 15,000 horse power,
of which 10,000 is contracted for at £3 per horse power per
annum for Buffalo alone.*
Lecture by Dr. Siemens.-In the year 1883 the Council
of the Institution of Civil Engineers determined to offer to
their members a course of six lectures on the "Practical
Applications of Electricity," and they were only too glad
to take advantage of Dr. Siemens's willingness to com-
municate information on a subject so peculiarly his own.
The branch he chose was "The Electrical Transmission
See Paper by Mr. Wm. Geipel, communicated to the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, 1888.
310
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
and Storage of Power," and the Lecture thereon was
delivered at the Institution on the 15th March, 1883.
After a notice of the history of the subject, he gave a
full explanation of the nature of the dynamo-electric
machine in its various forms, and of its mode of acting
both in lighting and in transmitting power. The lecture
was illustrated by machines and apparatus in action. He
exhibited the manner in which several applications of the
dynamo had been carried out, and dwelt at some length
on the construction, prospects, and advantages of the electric
railway.
In this lecture he also showed an instrument he had just
invented to indicate the electric energy traversing a circuit.
In writing to Sir William Thomson after the lecture he
said:
The Watt Meter behaved very well, enabling me to give the
power expended in pumping water = 36 horse-power.
About the middle of the lecture the speaker was inter-
rupted by a violent report, resulting in the breakage of
some glass in the dome of the theatre, and of windows at
the back of the building, This was caused by the memor-
able explosion of dynamite on the premises of the Local
Government Board in Whitehall, a short distance away.
Dr. Siemens, however, after a short pause, being assured
that no danger menaced the audience, went on with his
lecture with perfect coolness and self-command.
The following is his own notice of this interruption,
written to Sir William Thomson a day or two later :—
18th March, 1883.
The experiments succeeded pretty well, but in the midst of my
discourse a terrific explosion occurred, followed by the noise of
falling glass in the dome and the windows towards the north. My
first fear was that the portable engine-boiler [which was providing
CHAP. VIII.]
311
ELECTRIC HEATING.
the current for his experiments] had exploded, but after a few
seconds I was satisfied that my current was still in the leads; the
secretary called out that the building was safe, and I continued
after scarcely a minute's interruption. Fortunately the glass fell
from the dome windows to the outside, or the momentary panic
might not have been got under without serious consequences, for
650 persons were closely packed in the room.
ELECTRIC HEATING.
The great heat given off by the Voltaic arc had been,
like its light, a matter of observation at a very early period,
but there had been no serious attempts to make it useful.
When, however, the dynamo-electric apparatus had brought
powerful currents into action, Dr. Siemens set himself to
solve the problem of applying their heat-giving power to
practical ends. He knew something about heat, and he
was about the best person to determine what a new source
of heat would be likely to do.
He saw at once that the great feature of the electric heat
was not its quantity, but its intensity. It was not suited,
like the combustion of ordinary fuel, to communicate
moderate temperatures to large masses of material, but it
was able to operate on smaller substances, with a calorific
energy probably exceeding any other kind of action. In
pursuance of this idea, he proposed to form with the arc
an electrical furnace, which he believed would, with great
facility, produce melting effects hitherto obtainable only
on a very minute scale, or with the aid of very costly
means.
The apparatus by which he proposed to do this was
patented on the 27th May, 1879; the patent (which
contained some other electric matters) being for "Improved
means and Apparatus for producing Light and Heat by
312
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
Electricity." The claim bearing on this subject was as
follows:-
The use, for applying the heat of the voltaic arc, of a crucible
having introduced into it terminals, such as are employed in
electric lamps, adjusted so that the arc is produced and maintained
within the crucible.
There was also a modified claim, for the case where
the substance to be acted on was used as a conductor.
He described the apparatus to the Society of Telegraph
Engineers in a Paper read June 3, 1880. After mentioning
the means previously at the disposal of metallurgists, such
as the oxy-hydrogen blast, and his own Regenerative Gas
Furnace, he went on to say-
The temperature allowable in both furnaces is limited by the
power of complete dissociation of carbonic acid and aqueous
vapour, which may be estimated at from 2500° to 2800° Cent.
But long before this has been reached, combustion becomes so
sluggish that the losses of heat by radiation balance the pro-
duction by combustion, and thus prevent further increase of
the temperature.
It is to the electric arc, therefore, that we must look for the
attainment of a temperature exceeding this.
Professor
Dewar quite recently, in experimenting with the dynamo-electric
current, has shown . . . . that the temperature attained was not
much inferior to that of the sun.
My present object is to show that the electric arc is not only
capable of producing a very high temperature within a focus or
extremely contracted space, but also such larger effects, with
comparatively moderate expenditure of energy, as will render it
useful in the arts for fusing platinum, iridium, steel, or iron, or for
effecting such reactions or decompositions as require for their
accomplishment an intense degree of heat, coupled with freedom
from such disturbing influences as are inseparable from a furnace
worked by the combustion of carbonaceous material.
CHAP. VIII.]
313
ELECTRIC FURNACE.
Dr. Siemens exhibited and explained the furnace he had
contrived for the purpose. It consisted of an electrical arc,
produced by a current from a dynamo-electric machine,
caused to play, within a crucible, upon the material to be
acted upon, and capable of regulation at pleasure.
The advantages of such a furnace were stated to be
that the temperature attainable was theoretically un-
limited, and was practically very high, even with ordinary
refractory materials; that the heat was developed im-
mediately in the material to be fused, instead of having
first passed through the containing vessel; that the fusion
was effected in a perfectly neutral atmosphere, and that
the operation could be carried on in a laboratory without
much preparation, and under the eye of the operator. He
believed these would render the furnace a useful agent at
temperatures and under conditions which it had been
hitherto impossible to secure.
Many striking effects of the furnace were described.
Among them 8 lbs. of platinum, a metal very difficult of
fusion, were rendered perfectly liquid in about a quarter of
an hour; and tungsten, which had never previously been
melted, showed, in the electric fire, unmistakeable signs
of fusion.
The furnace was exhibited at the Electrical Exhibition
in Paris in 1881, and was a special object of interest to the
Prince of Wales and members of the British Commission
as well as to the general public.
The furnace has been lately taken up for the production
of aluminium, and its use is expected much to cheapen this
valuable metal. It has also been applied with great
advantage to the welding of steel.*
* Geipel, loc. cit.
314
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
VEGETATION UNDER ELECTRIC LIGHT.
In the course of Dr. Siemens's study of the properties of
the Electric Light, it occurred to him that it would be worth
while to inquire how far this light might be made to supply
the place of the sun in promoting vegetation, and in
stimulating the growth of plants and fruits.
About the beginning of 1878 he mentioned the subject
to Sir Joseph Hooker, at that time President of the Royal
Society and Director of the Botanic Gardens at Kew; but
Sir Joseph appears to have been cautious in giving an
opinion, and so nothing was done, although Dr. Siemens
continued to turn the matter over in his own mind.
In the meantime, the electric light was being applied to
the Albert Hall and adjoining buildings; and on the
evening of the 27th of May, 1879, a fête was given in
the grounds of the Horticultural Society, during which a
splendid series of electric lamps were established in the
conservatory, brilliantly illuminating the trees and plants
it contained. This effect made a great impression on the
mind of Dr. Maxwell Masters, the Editor of the chief
horticultural periodical, the Gardeners' Chronicle. The
next day Dr. Masters wrote to Dr. Siemens as follows:
DEAR SIR,-
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OFFICE,
41, WellingtON STREET, Strand, W.C.
LONDON, May 28th, 1879.
:
I have for some time past been much interested in the
possible future application of the electric light for forcing purposes,
and the brilliant illumination of the conservatory of the Royal
Horticultural Gardens last night induces me to trouble you with
this note.
:
You are aware that for forcing purposes the gardener can
re ulate heat and moisture at will, but the dull days of winter are
CHAP. VIII.]
315
ELECTRIC HORTICULTURE.
a great obstacle. Now, if by the electric light time could be saved
in the length of time required to force grapes, &c., and flavour
could be secured, a very great advantage would be secured, and
one of no little commercial importance.
Would it be possible, now that the apparatus is at Kensington,
to contrive a few simple experiments on the action of the light on
plants; for instance, to see whether tulips or dandelions, once
closed, would re-open by exposure to the electric light? Whether
their period of expansion could be lengthened? Whether the
decomposition of carbonic acid gas could be effected as under the
solar ray, &c.?
I am no electrician, and so I do not know how far such experi-
ments would be practicable; but they would seem to be easy, and
if so, the possible future application of the electric light for the
purposes I have mentioned would be rendered certain. Growth
can take place with little or no light, but the formation of chloro-
phyll and other secretions demands exposure to solar or-?-to
electric light.
Pray pardon the intrusion; I sought you fruitlessly last night,
but even had I met you, a Conversazione is not the place to talk
over a scientific experiment. If it were not unduly intruding on
your time I would gladly call on you at some time to explain my
views.
Faithfully yours,
MAXWELL T. MASTERS, M.D., F.R.S.,
Editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle.
To this letter Dr. Siemens replied (1 June, 1879), stating
that he had spoken to Sir Joseph Hooker on the subject
some time before, and adding-
I quite agree with you in believing that the electric light
will be found very efficacious as a substitute for solar light in
promoting the growth of plants, and the ripening of fruit. Like
solar light, the ray is sufficiently intense to break up carbonic acid
and produce woody fibre. The electric light is peculiarly rich in
actinic and blue rays, which we may suppose to be most efficacious
for the purpose.
316
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
If I were a botanist as well as an electrician I would before this
have tried an experiment; but seeing that you are struck with the
same idea, I should be willing to co-operate with you in putting
the question to a practical test.
Dr. Siemens soon afterwards had an interview with
Dr. Masters, and it was arranged they should have a
meeting with Sir Joseph Hooker and confer with him.
This meeting took place, and the result was that Dr.
Siemens took steps to bring the matter into a practical
shape. He determined to make a series of experiments
at his country house at Tunbridge Wells, where he had
already fitted up a complete electric installation, and he
proceeded to design the electric and gardening arrange-
ments necessary for the purpose. But these took still
much time to complete, and it was the beginning of the
year 1880 before the observations actually began.
They had sufficiently advanced in the spring to enable
him to make a communication to the Royal Society on
4th March, 1880, entitled—
"On the influence of Electric Light on Vegetation, and
on certain Physical Principles involved."
After alluding to earlier observations upon the dissocia-
tion of water and carbonic acid, and the effect of radiant
energy upon them, he went on to say:
The vast development of vegetation proves that dissociation is
accomplished freely within the leaf-cells of plants, in which both
water and carbonic acid are broken up in order that chlorophyll,
starch, and cellulose may be formed. It is well known that this
reaction depends upon solar radiation; but the question may
fairly be asked whether it is confined to that agency, or whether
other sources of light and heat, which in common with the sun
exceed the temperature of dissociation, may not be called into
requisition, in order to continue the action of growth, when that
great luminary has set, or is hidden behind clouds?
CHAP. VIII.]
317
ELECTRIC HORTICULTURE.
He then described the experiments, which were continued
at Sherwood for many months, on plants of various kinds,
and treated under various circumstances. They led to the
following conclusions :-
1. That electric light is efficacious in producing chlorophyll in
the leaves of plants, and in promoting growth.
2. That an electric centre of light equal to 1400 candles,
placed at a distance of two metres from growing plants, appeared
to be equal in effect to average daylight at this season of the
year, but that more economical effects can be attained by more
powerful light centres.
3. That the carbonic acid and nitrogenous compounds gene-
rated in diminutive quantities in the electric arc produce no
sensible deleterious effects upon plants enclosed in the same
space.
4. That plants do not appear to require a period of rest during
the twenty-four hours of the day, but make increased and
vigorous progress if subjected during daytime to sunlight, and
during the night to electric light.
5. That the radiation of heat from powerful electric arcs can
be made available to counteract the effect of night frost, and is
likely to promote the setting and ripening of fruit in the open
air.
6. That while under the influence of electric light plants can
sustain increased stove heat without collapsing, a circumstance
favourable to forcing by electric light.
7. That the expense of electro-horticulture depends mainly
upon the cost of mechanical energy, and is very moderate where
natural sources of such energy, such as waterfalls, can be made
available.
Dr. Maxwell Masters was present at the reading of the
paper, and on the following day he wrote to Dr. Siemens,
expressing his delight, and asking permission to publish
the experiments in his journal, adding:
All this confirms the impression that sooner or later the light
318
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
will be used for forcing purposes; for ultimately even the cost
will prove no obstacle, at least in a large establishment where
forcing is carried on on a large scale.
Dr. Siemens invited Dr. Masters to see the process at
Sherwood, and other letters followed, in one of which
Dr. Masters said :—
I fully believe you will inaugurate a new era in "forcing," a
matter of considerable commercial importance.
On March 18, Dr. Siemens sent
sent to the Royal
Society a supplement to his paper, extending his results to
the ripening of fruits. At a later time, a bunch of bananas
so treated were shewn to the Scientific Committee of the
Royal Horticultural Society, and elicited a formal letter of
thanks from them.
In June, 1880, he explained the subject fully to the
Society of Telegraph Engineers, dwelling particularly on the
electric details of the apparatus and processes used.
At the meeting of the British Association in September,
1881, Dr. Siemens gave further particulars of more ex-
tended horticultural and agricultural experiments, which
led him to think that the time was not far distant when
the electric light would be found a valuable adjunct to
these operations. He also described how the power
provided for producing the electric current might be
utilized profitably for other objects connected with
horticultural and agricultural work, and thus the expense
reduced.
Dr. Siemens received many letters on this subject, a few
of which may be quoted.
CHAP. VIII.] ELECTRIC HORTICULTURE.
319
MY DEAR SIEMENS,—
GLASGOW UNIVERSITY,
April 10th, 1880.
We read with the greatest interest the accounts of your
gardening by electric light. It is delightful to see these first trials.
so satisfactory and so full of promise. I hope you will persevere.
Have you tried more experiments on "the sun putting out the
fire?" Would not the electric light have a similar effect, and
to even a greater degree? Richness in rays from blue to ultra-
violet, seems to be characteristic of the electric light, and to it
may be due some of its good effects on vegetation, and its “ non-
burning" effect on the face,* and the chemical effects which you
found to be produced by sunlight on the combustion of vapours
in a lamp might very probably be chiefly due to such rays.
Yours, very truly,
WILLIAM THOMSON.
4, ADDISON GARDENS,
23rd September, 1881.
Dr. Rae has received and read with much pleasure and in-
struction Dr. C. W. Siemens's application of electric energy to
Horticulture and Agriculture.
The effects appear wonderful, and may in a great measure
revolutionize the operations of the gardener and farmer, especially
as the motive power can be profitably utilized during the hours
of daylight.
In the Arctic regions, crops of anti-scorbutic could be easily
raised on board ship by this plan.
From Mons. J. A. BARRAL, Life Secretary to the Société Nationale
d'Agriculture de France.
CHER MONSIEUR,-
4 Décr., 1881.
J'ai été obligé de quitter l'Angleterre pour des affaires
pressés; mais je me propose d'y retourner pour l'Exposition
d'Electricité. Alors j'aurai l'honneur de vous rendre visite.
* Sir William Thomson writes (17 Aug. 1888), "Later experience
has shown that it was a mistake to suppose that the electric light had
a 'non-burning' effect on the face. It is now well known that those
who work much in close proximity to electric arc lamps become 'sun-
burned' very much as if they had been exposed to natural sunshine."
320
[CHAP, VIII.
LAST YEARS. “.
Je désire surtout pouvoir visiter votre serre et vos cultures à
l'électricité. Mon but est de bien faire connaître vos travaux en
France.
J'ai eu l'honneur de vous adresser une conférence que j'ai faite
à la fin du mois d'Octobre à Paris, sur les applications de
l'électricité à l'agriculture. J'ai eu soin de mettre vos travaux en
évidence, et j'ai fait suivre ma conférence de la traduction de
votre Lecture au meeting d'York; mais je n'ai pas entre les mains
votre communication faite à la Société Royale le 1 Mars 1880.
Je vous serai reconnaissant de m'envoyer deux exemplaires de
votre Mémoire de 1880, et de votre Mémoire de 1881, parce que
je les mettrais sous les yeux de la Société Nationale d'Agriculture
de France. J'ai déjà appelé son attention sur vos recherches,
mais je désirerais en faire davantage.
En attendant votre réponse, et en conservant l'espoir de vous
voir prochainement, je vous prie d'agréer l'expression de mes
sentiments les plus distingués.
J. A. BARRAL.
The publication of these vegetation experiments gave
rise to the following clever epigram, which appeared in one
of the numbers of Nature.
Quis veterum vidit plantas sine sole virentes?
Germinat en semen Siementis lumine claro!
ELECTRIC UNITS.
Dr. Siemens took an active part in the proceedings that
were taken to settle the names and values of the Units
used in modern electric calculations. He aided in all the
* The pun is untranslateable, but the sense may be thus expressed:
Who ever heard that plants would grow
Without the sun's inspiring glow?
But lo! with Siemens' brilliant light,
The seed now sprouts in dead of night!
CHAP. VIII.]
321
THE SUN.
various committees appointed on the subject, by the British
Association and otherwise, from 1862 onwards to 1881,
when the determinations arrived at received the sanction
of the International Electric Congress in Paris.
He mentioned the subject somewhat fully in his address
to the British Association in 1882, and he wrote various
papers about it elsewhere. In 1883 he was elected chair-
man of a committee appointed by the Science and Art
Department to advise on the subject, a post which he
retained until his death.
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
The Sun.
One of the chief topics that occupied Dr. Siemens's mind
during this period, was a bold speculation which, though
of a highly scientific character, differed from his more
usual subjects of thought in that it had no immediate
practical bearing; it was no less a matter than the con-
stitution of the sun, and the nature of the solar energy.
His researches into light and heat had led him to think
deeply about the great source of both in the centre of the
solar system. He had already, in the lecture on Fuel, given
before the British Association in 1873, made some thought-
ful remarks on the nature of combustion, and the utilization
of different forms of energy; and he had foreshadowed
some ideas as to the sun. These had excited attention,
and after further careful study, and consultation with the
most eminent physicists of his acquaintance, he now carried
them further, pushing them into the region of daring
hypothesis; and he ventured to submit to the Royal
Society, on the 20th February, 1882, a paper "On the
Conservation of the Solar Energy."
Y
322
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
He said in a letter afterwards addressed to the
President :-
In putting forward my perhaps somewhat daring hypothesis, I
was animated by the feeling that although not prepared certainly
to discuss intricate questions of solar physics upon equal terms
with some of my hearers, I possessed special advantages in
having given a life-long attention to questions of combustion, and
to the utilization of different forms of energy upon a compara-
tively large scale. This led me to look upon the sun in the light
of a vast piece of apparatus, worked upon principles such as could
be observed and appreciated at their real value in terrestrial
practice.
In the paper in question, he began by pointing out what
an enormous amount of heat was continually being radiated
away from the sun, equivalent to the perfect combustion,
every 36 hours, of a mass of coal as great as our earth. Of
this, he estimated that the planets would only intercept
about one 225-millionth part, leaving all the rest to vanish
away into infinite space, and be lost to the system of which
the sun was the centre.
He remarked that it had long been a source of wonder
to natural philosophers how so prodigious an amount could
be given off, year after year, without any appreciable
diminution of the sun's temperature. Various theories
had been offered in explanation, such as that of the supply
being kept up by meteors falling into the sun, or that of
the gradual shrinkage of the sun's volume. But these were
all more or less open to objection; and he ventured to put
forward a new explanation which he conceived would be
more satisfactory. This explanation was found in three
postulates.
He assumed, in the first place, that gaseous matters,
particularly aqueous vapour and carbon compounds, were
CHAP. VIII.]
323
THE SUN.
present in a highly attenuated state, in stellar and inter-
planetary space, an assumption for which he brought
forward several ingenious arguments.
He next conceived that these gases were capable of
being dissociated by the radiant solar energy.
And thirdly, he attributed a peculiar effect on these
dissociated vapours, to the mechanical action of the sun's
rotation. He likened this action to that of the well-known
centrifugal blowing fan, which, revolving with great
velocity, draws air in near its axis, and ejects it at its
circumference. In this manner he argued that the effect
of the sun's rotation would be to draw in the dissociated
vapours upon its polar surfaces, and so to subject them to
intense combustion, after which they would be again ejected
into space from the quickly revolving sun's equator.
This "fan-like action," as he called it, when combined
with the chemical phenomena, he considered to offer a
solution of the problem of the maintenance of energy. He
considered, in fact, that the sun might be regarded as a
gigantic specimen of one of his own regenerative gas
furnaces, with, however, the unusual condition that the
same materials of combustion were used over and over
again. He carefully avoided the charge of having broached
a "perpetual motion " impossibility, for he admitted there
must be some loss of energy, without which indeed his
assumed process could not go on; but he opposed the idea
of enormous waste, an idea that was as repulsive to him
in the solar system as it had been in the manufacturing
economy.
He said, in concluding the paper-
If these conditions could be substantiated, we should gain the
satisfaction that our Solar System would no longer impress us
with the idea of prodigious waste through dissipation of energy
into space, but rather with that of well-ordered, self-sustaining
Y 2
324
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
action, capable of continuing solar radiation to a very remote
future.
An article by Dr. Siemens, embodying a popular account
of his theory, was inserted in the Nineteenth Century for
April, and notices of the communication were widely pub-
lished in England, and by translations on the continent
also. The theory was warmly discussed, and many scien-
tific men hastened to record their criticisms upon it; these
were taken in very good part and courteously answered by
Dr. Siemens.
The following letters on the subject will probably be
interesting:-
A friend wrote, under date 4th March, 1882 :-
I had a very long and interesting talk with Lord Sherbrooke
(Mr. Lowe) this morning. He was immensely interested in what
I told him of your views, and repented that he had not been
your pupil instead of learning so much Latin, Greek, and
Mathematics; and he spoke of you, and those who are working
with you to enlarge our sphere of knowledge, as "the salt of the
earth”—high praise from such a critic.
15, ROYAL TERRACE, EDINBurgh,
DEAR MR. Siemens,–
5th April, 1882.
Many thanks for the copy of the Nineteenth Century
edition of your glorious Sun-paper. I have read it through with
much satisfaction.
*
*
*
Perhaps I admired most the par. extending from foot of p. 524
to the top of p. 525.
That is also a remarkable testimony, almost inspiration, of Sir
I. Newton which you bring forward; I even suggest that if
Chemistry had existed in his day, he would have left you little
further to discover or add to his sun-reheating theory by gases
from space.
CHAP. VIII.]
325
THE SUN.
And to which I willingly add, as a further testimony from a
small onlooker, as to the righteousness of your ways, that if
Addison had lived earlier, Sir Isaac would have, or was the style
of man to have, quoted the very verse with which you wind up.
I remain yours, very truly,
C. PIAZZI SMYTH.
126, BOULEVARD PÉREIRA,
30 Juin, 1882.
CHER MONSIEUR,-
J'ai l'honneur de vous informer que M. Dumas, sécré-
taire perpetuel de l'Institut, a demandé avec instance, à M.
Gauthier Villars, de vouloir bien laisser insérer dans les Annales
de Physique et de Chimie, la traduction de votre mémoire sur
l'énergie solaire, et que je me suis empressé de répondre à son
désir.
Permettez-moi de vous féliciter de cette marque d'approbation,
qui vous est donnée, très chaleureusement, par un de nos savants
les plus illustres, et de vous dire combien j'en suis heureux.
Croyez moi bien, cher monsieur, votre tout dévoué,
G. RICHARD.
Dr. W. D. Carpenter, in an article in Knowledge,
published March 17th, 1882, said:-
Dr. Siemens's most ingenious speculation, whatever may be its
ultimate issue, must be accounted one of the highest and most
brilliant flights that the scientific imagination has ever made.
At the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society on the
30th November, 1882, the President, Mr. Spottiswoode,
made a kind of summing-up of the controversy in his
annual address, when he said :—
Nor must I omit mention of Dr. C. W. Siemens's bold and
original theory of the conservation of solar energy, which has
already given rise to so much discussion. It will be sufficient for
me here to say that upon the questions therein raised the last
326
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
word has been by no means said; and that whether the theory
be ultimately established, or whether, like a Phoenix, it shall
hereafter give rise to some other outcome from its own ashes, it
will ever be remembered as having set many active minds at
work, and will always have a place in the history of Solar
Physics.
In April, 1883, Sir William republished the original
paper, together with the criticisms and his replies, and
with other matters bearing on the subject, in a volume
dedicated to the President. In the letter of dedication,
he cordially accepted the position Mr. Spottiswoode had
assigned to the question at issue, and added:-
All things considered, I have every reason to be satisfied with
the interest that has been taken in the question I have ventured
to bring forward.
The following letters relate to this republication :
ROYAL OBSERVATORY, EDINBURGH,
DEAR SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS,—
19th April, 1883.
Many thanks for your obliging presentation of your new
volume on the Conservation of Solar Energy. Was there ever
a theory so opposed by half the world and ever a theory so
defended on every side, as yours has been by yourself?
*
*
*
*
*
C. PIAZZI SMYTH.
THE WHITE HOUSE, CROOM'S HILL,
GREENWICH PARK, S.E.,
MY DEAR SIR,—
April 25th, 1883.
A note which I addressed to you three days ago
vanished mysteriously (with others) before reaching the post, and
its purport was to acknowledge your kind recollection in sending
to me a copy of your "Collection of Papers and Discussions on
the Conservation of Solar Energy."
CHAP. VIII.]
327
THE SUN.
Some months ago I had the pleasure of a short correspondence
with you on this subject. I pointed out some mechanical con-
siderations regarding the effect of rotation. But the question has
widened much into gaseous theories, and more extended
cosmology, into which I do not venture boldly.
On mere mechanical principles, I do not despair of explaining
conservation of the vis viva of an issue of a vibratory ray, by a
species of reflection from a gradual diminution of density of the
vibrating medium. There is a phenomenon in some measure
analogous to it which I have myself observed and brought to the
attention of other observers, the interior echo from the open
mouth of a tall chimney. Pray try this when one of your
chimneys is open at the top and accessible at the bottom.
I beg you to convey my respectful compliments to Lady
Siemens, and am,
My dear Sir, yours very truly,
SIR CHARLES W. SIEMENS, D.C.L., LL.D., &C., &C.
G. B. AIRY.
None of the arguments brought against Sir William's
theory seemed powerful enough to shake his faith in it;
for, on the contrary, during the few remaining months of
his life, he continued to gather, from new scientific data,
what he considered further evidence in its favour.
An instance of this was shewn in another paper which he
presented to the Royal Society on the 25th of April, 1883,
entitled :-" On the Dependence of Radiation on Tempe-
rature." In the course of his solar investigations, he had
remarked the obscurity of the laws of radiation, and the con-
sequent uncertainty and discrepancy as to the solar tempera-
ture, and he determined to institute a personal investigation
to throw light on the matter, conceiving that the facilities
for such an investigation, by reason of the latest electrical
and spectroscopic discoveries, were greater than at any
former time. He described his experiments and results so
far as he had gone, but some points were left open on
328
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
which he stated his "intention to make further investi-
gations," an intention which, alas! he was not destined to
carry into execution.
Two days later, on the 27th of April, he delivered a
lecture on the same points at the Royal Institution, and it
was printed in Vol. X. of their proceedings. These two
communications were the last published documents that
emanated from his pen, and they clearly shew the tendency
of his mind in his later days towards abstruse scientific
studies.
One of the ablest notices of Dr. Siemens's book
appeared in the Saturday Review of 28th July, 1883.
While generally highly complimentary to Dr. Siemens's
investigations, it concluded thus:-
It seems to us therefore that on the whole the probabilities are
decidedly against the truth of the theory; though in the words of
the great scientific leader we have so lately lost, "Upon the
questions therein raised the last word has by no means been said.”
The publication of the book whose contents we have been
criticising has put the whole question in a nutshell, and it should
be read by all those who are interested in the progress of solar
physics.
The Indian Engineering College.
Dr. Siemens was never so thoroughly happy as when,
after having studied theories, he could reduce them to
practice; in fact, one of the reasons why he took so much
pleasure in his work was that it was of a kind that enabled
him to do so.
In the last year of his life, he had an unlooked for
opportunity of carrying out this principle, in regard to the
education which should be given to students in his own
profession, Civil Engineering. This was afforded by a
connexion which he formed with the authorities of
CHAP. VIII.]
329
THE INDIAN COLLEGE.
the Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill, near
Staines.
The College had been founded by Government, under
the auspices of the Council of India, in 1871, and its
object was to give to a number of carefully selected pupils,
under competent professors, a preparatory technical edu-
cation to fit them, in conjunction with further practical
instruction, for becoming engineers, and serving as such on
public works in India.
The system was found to answer well, and had been in
successful action for seven years, sending out annually
about forty well qualified recruits :—when, in 1878, the
Indian Government, from imperative financial reasons,
found it necessary to curtail largely the expenditure
on public works, and, as a consequence, to diminish the
annual supply of students by about one half.
The continued maintenance of the college under these
new circumstances, soon became a financial question, which
remained unsettled for two or three years. In 1879, the
President, Colonel. Chesney, R.E., induced the Govern-
ment to institute a Board of Visitors, which should, in
addition to certain representatives of the Government, com-
prise some influential civil engineers who might advise on
the affairs of the college; and especially on what changes in
its constitution and curriculum would make it attractive to
students who, while able to afford the expensive education,
were willing to look for a professional career elsewhere
than in the service of the Indian Government.
Of this Board, Dr. Siemens became one of the earliest
and most influential and active members; and he did not
hesitate to express the opinion that, with a wider cur-
riculum, the vacancies left in the college by the new policy
of the Indian Government, would be easily filled by students
of the class mentioned.
330
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
Soon after this, Colonel Chesney was succeeded by
General Sir Alexander Taylor, K.C.B., R.E., who induced
the Government to request the Board of Visitors to
examine and report upon the best means of attaining the end
desired. In the proceedings which followed during the
next three years, down to 1883, it was Dr. Siemens who
took, chiefly, the initiative in proposing various important
changes; and with the earnest support and intervention
of Sir John Fowler, Mr. W. H. Barlow, and the chairman,
Sir R. Temple, he prevailed upon the Government to spend
considerable sums in enlarging existing appliances, and in
establishing new laboratories, with a considerable increase
of the staff to work them.
The tendency of these changes was to increase largely
the facilities for study of the physical and experimental
sciences, beyond what had been previously considered
sufficient for the needs of the Indian services. Of course,
there was a difficulty in finding time for the new or ex-
tended topics, but this was surmounted eventually, in part
by appropriating time occupied by recently abolished
studies, partly by diminishing slightly the time devoted to
others, but chiefly by making some subjects partially and
others wholly alternative. The details and the results may
be seen by reference to the college calendars before and
after the alteration.
For the great advantage of these improvements the
college is chiefly indebted to the keen insight of Dr.
Siemens, and to his disinterested exertions in pressing on the
attention of a justifiably reluctant Government the need for
increased expenditure. His far-sighted expectations have,
so far, been completely justified; and now, at the beginning
of every annual session, the college is crowded with candi-
dates for its appointments and diplomas, quite up to the
limits of its accommodation. And although some, finding
CHAP. VIIL] THE ELECTRICAL THERMOMETER.
331
themselves overmatched, drop off as the session advances,
yet the average numbers in residence suffice to bring in a
revenue about equal to the large annual expenditure,
considerably increased as that has been by the operation
of the changes above described.
There is good reason to believe that the existing staff of
the college, who know the facts, gratefully cherish and
revere the name and memory of a man who has done so
much for the interests of their institution.*
The Electrical Thermometer.
He said
The invention and progress of Dr. Siemens's Electrical
Pyrometer has already been noticed in Chap. VII. In a
subsequent paper to the Royal Society, "On a Deep-Sea
Electrical Thermometer," read on the 15th of June, 1882,
he gave some further particulars of its actual use.
it had been largely adopted for determining the temperatures
of hot blast and smelting furnaces, and had been found to
agree very closely with other measurements between 100°
and 1000° Centigrade. It had also been successfully tried
for objects where a much greater degree of accuracy was
required, as in deep-sea observations.
In 1880 he received the following letter from his friend
Professor Agassiz, then residing in the United States :—
MY DEAR SIR,—
MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE Zoology,
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., February 10th, 1880.
Referring to a conversation I had the pleasure of holding
with you while in London last autumn in regard to your deep-sea
* For this sketch of the labours of Dr. Siemens, the author is indebted
to his friend, Mr. Calcott Reilly, Professor of Engineering Construction
at the college.
332
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
Electrical Thermometer, I am now authorized by the Superin-
tendent of the Coast Survey to write you in regard to it.
I expect to go out in the Blake again next June, to be gone six
weeks, and run lines normal to the coast across the Gulf Stream ;
and if you feel inclined to send us one of your temperature
machines I can only assure you that the officers and myself will
do all in our power, not only to give it a fair trial, but to prove it
I am very truly,
a success.
DR. C. W. SIEMENS, London.
A. W. AGASSIZ.
The instrument was provided and put on board the
Blake, and after some delay it was subjected to a series
of tests in August, 1881. Observations were taken at
various depths, and were compared with the indication of
test thermometers, and the correspondence was almost
exact. On Dec. 15th, 1881, Professor Agassiz wrote:-
You will be glad to hear that the apparatus has worked most
satisfactorily; it was carefully tested to 400 fathoms in connexion
with Miller-Casella thermometers, under most favourable cir-
cumstances, and the general result in a few words is that it is
admirable as an instrument of precision, and just what is needed
to indicate the crooked lines of temperatures met with in making
sections through the Gulf Stream.
In 1883 it was applied to the converse use of ascertaining
temperatures at great heights in the air.
Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., the eminent meteorologist,
was desirous of making a record of atmospheric tempera-
tures at different levels, and proposed to use for this pur-
pose the tower of Boston church, 273 feet high. The first
essential was to obtain a thermometer which could be read
without climbing to the top of the tower; and this require-
ment having been brought to the notice of Dr. Siemens, he
suggested the use of his electric instrument, and offered
CHAP. VIII.] VIENNA ELECTRIC EXHIBITION.
333
one of them for the purpose. It was placed in a box at the
top of the tower, the conducting wires were brought down
to the ground level inside the church, and by this means
the temperature was read with great ease, concurrently
with those on the ground level. The results, which were
interesting and important in a meteorological point of
view, were communicated by Mr. Symons to the Royal
Society on the 6th June, 1883, and are published in their
Proceedings.
Vienna Electric Exhibition.
In 1883, a great Exhibition of Electric Apparatus was
held in Vienna. Sir William Siemens was, in July, 1883,
appointed by Government to represent this country there,
jointly with Lord Sudeley, Sir William Thomson, and
Sir Frederick Abel. Towards the end of the month he
went over, accompanied by Lady Siemens, and he was
busily occupied for about six weeks on the affairs of the
Exhibition, to which the London and Berlin firms were
large contributors.
As an addition to the information afforded by the
Exhibition itself, the promoters of it organised a series of
lectures, in the theatre of the building, on electrical subjects,
and, as a compliment to Sir William Siemens, they arranged
that the introductory lecture of the series should be
given by him. It was accordingly delivered on the 27th
of August, 1883, the subject being "The Relations between
Temperature, Light, and Radiation, with remarks on the
Sun, and its connection with Electrical Phenomena." The
little theatre in the Rotunda was closely filled, as the
subject was interesting, not only to electricians, but to the
general public.
Sir William, before he began his lecture, apologised for
334
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
addressing the audience in German, as during the last forty
years the language of his daily use had been English.
He,
however, considered it his duty, in addressing a German
public, to do so in his original mother-tongue. . In the
course of his lecture he stated that the temperature of the
sun did not much exceed 2800 degrees Centigrade, being
at any rate under 3000 degrees. He thought this might
be surpassed by electric furnaces; and that the electric
light and heat might be used in many cases to answer the
same purposes as those of the sun.
The whole lecture was given in a popular style, and
though possibly all his auditors may not have thoroughly
followed his reasonings, they could at least understand and
admire his highly instructive experiments.
He made scarcely any mention of his own inventions
and discoveries, but he alluded in passing to some of
those due to his brother. This brother, the Geh.
Regierungsrath Werner Siemens, sat in the pit of the
theatre, and apparently much enjoyed hearing a public
address from William in the German language.
Towards the close of the Exhibition, on the 28th of
October, the members of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna
made a visit to the Exhibition. They were conducted by
the Crown Prince Rudolph, and were joined by Professor
Helmholtz, Sir William Thomson, and Sir William Siemens.
The Prince conversed with these gentlemen for some time,
and expressed his lively satisfaction at being enabled to
greet three such learned men in the company of the
Austrian representatives of science. Subsequently the
members of the Academy took a trip on the Electric
Railway, Sir William Siemens directing the train.
A few days later, one of the local journals said :-
The Electric Exhibition, with the colossal concourse of strangers
that it attracted to Vienna, is now over, and we think in the
CHAP. VIII.]
335
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.
deserted halls of those wonderful machines, driven by that myste-
rious power; of the enormous progress that has been made in
this comparatively new science; and of the remarkable men whose
genius and talent have grasped the mysteries of nature and turned
them to the use and benefit of mankind.
Perhaps the names most frequently heard during the Exhibition
were those of the Brothers Siemens, to whose activity so much
electric progress has been due, as their manifold exhibits, lamps,
electro-dynamic machines, melting furnaces, electric railways,
telegraph appliances, &c., conclusively showed. The greatest
proof of their activity is that the firm is become an International
one, and has set its foot not only in German, but in English,
French, and Russian speaking lands.
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.-LECTURES, ADDRESSES.
In the last year of his life, Dr. Siemens continued his
interest in the various societies he belonged to, confining
his attention now rather to the scientific than the practical
aspects of their investigations.
British Association.
In 1882 he was appointed to the proud scientific
position of President of the British Association, and
opened the proceedings at Southampton on the 23rd of
August in the usual manner, with an address, containing,
as might be expected, a masterly exposition of the state of
science at the time. It had principally reference to
the practical applications of science, and it will be found
entire among his collected papers. The address was well
received, and the popularity of the President was strongly
manifested throughout the meeting.
Werner Siemens and some of his family attended, and
after the gathering was over, a pleasant party, including Pro-
336
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
fessor Clausius, Professor and Madame Du Bois-Reymond,
Professor Langley, of Washington, and other friends, re-
turned with Dr. and Mrs. Siemens to Sherwood.
It is usual for a special sermon to be preached before the
Association, and at Southampton the duty was taken by
Dr. Edward Benson, then Bishop of Truro. Some six
months afterwards this divine was made Archbishop of
Canterbury, on which Dr. Siemens wrote him the following
letter of congratulation :-
3, PALACE HOUSES, KENSINGTON GARDENS, W.,
29th March, 1883.
MY LORD ARCHBISHOP,-
I have only waited for the final assumption by your
Grace of the high office which by general acclamation you have been
called upon to fill, to recall to your Grace's remembrance the
incident when, as President of the British Association, I had the
privilege of listening to the broad and enlightened views the
members of the Association were treated to at Southampton in
August last. May those views be the guiding principles on which
the Church of this country will continue to advance, depending
on truth in every form rather than upon accepted dogmas for its
legitimate influence!
Congratulating your Grace on the auspicious event of this day,
and earnestly wishing you a long continuance of health and
strength for the very responsible duties of that high office,
I am, my Lord Archbishop,
Your Grace's faithful servant,
C. WILLIAM SIEMENS.
This letter elicited the following reply :-
LAMBETH PALACE,
April 1st, 1883.
MY DEAR DR. SIEMENS,
I thank you heartily for your very kind greeting. It was
a great honour to preach before you and the British Association,
CHAP. VIII.]
337
THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
and it is too kind of you to remember it. As to the principles
themselves of my address, such as it was, they are not only rooted
in me, but appear to me to be a part of the very truth of things,
so that I earnestly trust in my life's work not to depart from them.
The accepted doctrines of the Church, like all accepted dogmas
of other kinds of knowledge, however true they are, are never to
be withdrawn from re-examination if the occasion arises. They
have not failed yet, and every re-examination has, by throwing off
disfigurements, brought out the truth more strongly. "Prove all
things, hold to that which is good" is Saint Paul's saying,
which ought to be written over all knowledge, and which scientific
men have in their own region been faithful to. May all be
faithful to it in all regions.
Sincerely and gratefully yours,
EDW. CANTUAR.
Society of Arts.
The connexion of Dr. Siemens with the Society of Arts
has been mentioned in several earlier chapters. He always
considered it a suitable institution for the promotion of
objects connected with science and industry, and he did all
he could to increase its popularity and usefulness. In 1882
he was elected to the office of Chairman of Council (cor-
responding with that of President in many other bodies),
and he opened the session on the 17th November with
an able address. He chose for his subject the capa-
bilities and prospects of electric lighting, and he worked
out, at much length, a description and estimate of a
plan for lighting in this way the whole parish of St.
James, containing nearly 30,000 inhabitants, and many
public buildings of high order.
On the 27th of July, 1883, the Soirée of the Society took
place at the International Fisheries Exhibition, South
Kensington. It was honoured by the attendance of H.R.H.
the Prince of Wales, President of the Society, and the
Ꮓ
338
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
Princess, as well as by many other distinguished persons,
either belonging to the Society or specially invited to the
fête, the total number of guests being about 6500. Sir
William Siemens, as Chairman of the Council, went to
considerable trouble and personal expense for this re-
ception. The buildings and grounds were brilliantly
illuminated by electric lights, installed for the occasion;
and many other special arrangements were made for the
comfort and pleasure of the visitors. The soirée was a
very brilliant one, nothing having been left undone which
could tend to make it so.
Sir William continued to hold the appointment as
chairman of the Council in the following year; the first
meeting was fixed for the 21st of November, when it
would have been his duty to open the session with another
address. On the 8th he took this in hand, and dictated to
his secretary a large portion of it, which was immediately
set up in type. It contained remarks on electric lighting;
on the Vienna Electrical Exhibition; and on Scientific
Standards of Measurement. But it was never finished, and
on the day when it should have been delivered, alas! the
melancholy announcement of his death, two days before,
had to be made.
Institution of Civil Engineers.
At this Institution he joined in many discussions, and in
1883 he gave the official lecture on Electric Power, noticed
already.
A short time before his death, he received a high
compliment from the Institution, namely the award of
what is known as the HOWARD Prize. Some years before,
Mr. Howard, an eminent engineer and iron manufacturer,
had left a bequest to the Institution, "for the purpose of
CHAP. VIII.]
339
THE HOWARD PRIZE.
presenting periodically a Prize or Medal to the author of
a treatise on any of the uses or properties of iron, or to
the inventor of some new and valuable process relating
thereto." It had been arranged to award the prize every
five years, so allowing the fund to accumulate and to
increase its value.
The first award, in 1877, had been made to Sir Henry
Bessemer, and on the prize becoming due again, the
Council, on the 6th of November, 1883, passed the follow-
ing resolution :—
Resolved by Acclamation,―That in consideration of the important
discoveries and valuable improvements he has effected in the
manufacture of iron and steel, the Howard Quinquennial Prize for
1882 be awarded to Sir William Siemens, F.R.S., Mem. Inst. C.E.
This was communicated to Sir William by Mr. Forrest,
the secretary, and the acknowledgment of it was one of
the last acts of his life.
After his death, it was necessary to ask Lady Siemens.
to determine in what manner the prize should be given,
and she expressed a wish to possess a bronze copy of
the celebrated group of "the Mourners," by J. G. Lough,
originally placed in the Great Exhibition of 1851, and now
in the Crystal Palace.
This copy was made by Messrs. Elkington of Birming-
ham, who had been Mr. Siemens's first patrons in
England, and it bore the inscription, “Howard Quinquen-
nial Prize, awarded to Sir William Siemens, F.R.S., Mem.
Inst. C.E., by the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1883."
It was accordingly presented to Lady Siemens by the
Council. It was an appropriate symbol of her sad bereave-
ment, and a last affectionate tribute to the memory of their
much regretted colleague.
Z 2
2
340
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
French Society of Civil Engineers.
In the Autumn of 1881, there was held in Paris a Great
Exhibition of Electric Apparatus. At this, of course, the
objects exhibited by the Siemens firms occupied a pro-
minent position, the electric furnace for melting steel
(described more fully at page 313) being a most attractive
novelty.
Dr. Siemens spent some time there, and was much fêted.
During the exhibition, the "Société des Ingénieurs Civils
(an institution corresponding to the English "Institution
of Civil Engineers") took the opportunity of meeting
occasionally in the exhibition building, for the purpose
of examining the objects shewn there, and holding
technical and scientific discussions upon them.
At the first of these meetings, held on the 23rd of
September, the members paid Dr. Siemens the compliment
of asking him to preside, and to conduct their examinations
and discussions. He willingly agreed, and the following
procès verbal records what took place.
La séance est ouverte à dix heures.
M. MARCHÉ (Vice-Président) fait connaître à la Réunion que
l'un de nos membres les plus distingués, M. le docteur William
Siemens, de Londres, présent à Paris, a bien voulu accepter la
Présidence Honoraire de cette première séance.
Il ajoute que c'est une bonne fortune pour la Société de faire
son entrée à l'Exposition sous le patronage et la direction du
savant dont le nom, illustré par lui et les siens, est attaché à tous
les progrès réalisés depuis vingt ans en Métallurgie, en Electricité,
et en Lumière.
M. W. Siemens prend place au fauteuil aux applaudissements
de l'auditoire.
After the object of the visit and the general programme
CHAP. VIII.] THE FRENCH ENGINEERS.
341
had been explained by the Vice-President, Dr. Siemens
gave an address in French. He said :-
Messieurs, grâce à votre aimable invitation, je me trouve dans
ce moment dans une position bien honorable, pour laquelle je
vous offre mes remerciments sincères.
Cette position m'impose pourtant un devoir, que je me sens peu
capable de remplir, attendu que ma connaissance de votre langue
est trop limitée et que le temps m'a manqué pour préparer un
discours, tel que j'aurais voulu vous l'adresser. Aussi, je compte
sur votre indulgence qui, je l'espère, ira même au delà de votre
courtoisie.
He succeeded, however, in giving them what one of their
number afterwards called a brillante allocution on the various
uses to which electricity had been put, and concluded by
saying:-
L'énergie électrique s'applique presque partout, et par elle une
nouvelle voie s'ouvre à l'ingénieur pour diriger les forces de la
nature, dans un sens qui n'était pas connu auparavant ; j'ai voulu
montrer que nous avons devant nous un travail énorme, mais
énormément intéressant, à accomplir.
After the Exhibition he was gratified by receiving the
following letter:-
MINISTÈRE DES POSTES ET DES TÉLÉGRAPHES,
MONSIEUR LE DOCTEUR,-
Cabinet du Ministre,
PARIS, le 16 Décembre, 1881.
Au moment où l'Exposition d'Electricité vient de se
terminer, alors que nous allons publier les glorieux travaux du
Congrès, le Président de la République Française a tenu à donner
un temoignage de sa gratitude à ceux dont le concours lui semble
avoir le plus puissamment contribué au succès de l'Exposition et du
Congrès.
342
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
J'ai la satisfaction de vous annoncer que, sur mes propositions,
mon collègue, M. le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères, Président
du Conseil, a fait signer un Décret par lequel vous avez été
nommé Officier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur.
Vous recevrez par la voie diplomatique les brevêts et insignes
de l'Ordre.
Croyez que je conserverai un éternel souvenir de nos bonnes et
affectueuses relations.
Agréez, Monsieur le Docteur, l'assurance de ma haute con-
sidération.
Le Ministre des Postes et des Télégraphes,
COCHERY.
Monsieur le Docteur W. SIEMENS (C. W.), D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S. à
Londres, Membre du Congrès, de la Maison Siemens Frères et
Cie.
The Birmingham Midland Institute.
On the 20th of October, 1881, a newly erected wing of
the Birmingham and Midland Institute, in Paradise Street,
Birmingham, was formally opened by the Mayor, Alderman
Richard Chamberlain, in the presence of a large concourse
of the friends and benefactors of the Institution. The
proceedings included the usual English feature of a break-
fast, and appropriate speeches were made by the Chair-
man, by his brother, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., and
others.
In the evening, Dr. Siemens, who had accepted tem-
porarily the office of President of the Institution (and who
was the guest of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain), delivered a lec-
ture which was subsequently published under the title of
“Science and Industry," and attracted considerable atten-
tion, from the excellent practical character of the views
expressed. Addressing himself chiefly to young students,
who, as he said, he considered intent on combining science
with practical aims, he described the nature of the educa-
CHAP. VIII.] THE MIDLAND INSTITUTE.
343
tion best adapted to this purpose, and pointed out its
advantages. The lecture was one of the most successful
he ever delivered, and was received with great enthusiasm.
It was reprinted and widely circulated in pamphlet form,
and has been ever since remembered in the town as forming
an epoch in its educational history.
The following letter was written (in German) to an old
friend, the wife of an eminent artist, who had made some
comments on the address:
HONOURED MRS. HAAG,-
SHERWOOD,
22nd January, 1882.
I thank you right heartily for your friendly remarks on
my Address at the Midland Institute.
My object was principally to oppose the present tendency to
direct education to specific subjects without thinking that the
result must be to produce men of one-sidedness and routine. It
has however astonished me that my views have been so generally
appreciated and concurred in, showing that my labour has not
been entirely lost.
I quite agree with you, that a combination of German and
English peculiarities should lead to good results, and I do not
doubt that your own children, brought up on such excellent
principles, will furnish the best proof of this. I am glad to hear
that your dear husband keeps well and fresh for his interesting
work. Art and Science are mutually necessary for each other,
and through their united power will man perhaps come nearer to
the God-like type.
The lady to whom this was written, adds:-
I, like so many others, have lost in him my best friend in
England. In him were combined great talents with a noble and
unselfish mind. He made his home the rendezvous of all that
was great in science, in art, and in literature. He valued persons
according to their merits, and had a kind and sympathising word
for everybody.
344
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
In 1882, Dr. Siemens gave £500 to the Industrial
Department of the Institute for the purpose of founding
an annual prize to the best candidate of the year in
Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and Solid Geometry.
He said, in writing about it :—
It will be requisite to have a design for the medal prepared,
and considering that my career commenced in Birmingham with
electro-gilding, the medal might perhaps appropriately be a silver
one gilt.
Prize at King's College.
In 1882 he founded also a Prize at King's College,
London. The following letter will explain his views in
regard thereto :-
14th January, 1882.
To the Members of Council of King's College, London.
GENTLEMEN,
With the object of stimulating the Students at King's
College to the acquisition of a high standard of proficiency in
metallurgical science, I have thought of offering a premium and
medal to be awarded annually upon some such conditions as the
following, suggested to me by Professor Huntington :--
1. That the medal be of gold, of the value of ten guineas, and
be known as the Siemens Medal; that the premium be also of
the value of ten guineas, to be expended in books or instruments
at the option of the medallist.
2. That the course of work extend over three years, the first
and second years to be occupied in receiving a grounding in the
following subjects:-Higher Mathematics, Physics, Mechanics,
Mechanical Drawing, General Chemistry (mainly lectures), Miner-
alogy, Geology, Arts of Construction, and Machinery. The third
year to be devoted to the special study of Metallurgy.
3. Should there not in any year be any Student qualified to
receive the medal, the twenty guineas shall be applied to the
purchase of apparatus and books of reference for the Metallurgical
Laboratory.
CHAP. VIII.]
345
KING'S COLLEGE.
On hearing from you that you approve of my proposal, and are
prepared to have the necessary examinations made, I shall be
happy to place in your hands the funds necessary to have the die
of the medal prepared, and subsequently to purchase an annuity
or debenture stock producing £21 a year, to be vested in a trust
to be appointed by you. It is customary, I believe, that the
medal should bear on one side the effigy of the donor; on the
reverse side I should propose that there be something typical of
Metallurgy.
I am, &c.,
C. W. SIEMENS.
It was afterwards settled that the awards were to depend
partly on an essay on some particular metallurgical subject,
partly on a written examination on the metallurgical
lectures, and partly on actual work done in the laboratory.
The medal was struck by Messrs. Wyon. It had on one
side the head of the donor, with the legend-Car. Gul.
Siemens: praemium in arte metallurgica. D.D. 1882. On
the other, Dr. Siemens's artistic suggestion was not carried
out, but there were engraved simply the arms of the College,
with the inscription, Coll. Reg. Lond.
Royal Commission on Technical Education.
On the 10th March, 1882, Dr. Siemens gave evidence
before the Royal Commission on Technical Education,
Mr. Bernhard Samuelson in the Chair. In this he made
some interesting statements about his own education, which
should be quoted entire :-
You have received your technical instruction in Germany?—I
received all my schooling in Germany.
But you have resided nearly forty years in this country?—Yes.
In the course of your professional career you have come much
346
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
into contact with manufacturers and with their foremen and
workmen engaged in various branches of industry?—I have.
Can you specify some of these branches? I was in early life
connected with improvements in steam-engines, and I came
therefore in contact with mechanical workmen and their
employers. Then I turned my attention to applications of heat,
and I came then in contact with iron workers, steel workers,
glass workers, enamellers, and a variety of others. Then I have
been connected for the last thirty years with electrical engineering,
and in that department I have come in contact with workers
more as an employer than as one introducing improvements in
processes already established. But altogether, I may say that I
have come very much in contact with men engaged either as
employers, or as foremen, or as workmen, in various branches of
industry.
Has that experience been confined to this country, or have you
had similar experience in other countries ?—I have had a good
deal of experience also in Germany, France, and the United
States, but not nearly to the same extent as in this country.
Perhaps, before we ask you what your experience has been, we
might ask you what has been your own education and training?—
An irregular one, I may say. I was originally intended for a
merchant's office, and I received in early life a general, but
limited education.
A classical education, or partly classical and partly technical ?—
In its early stages partly classical. Then I was sent to a technical
school, that is to say, the Gewerbe-Schule of Magdeburg; then, by
an act of rebellion, as I may call it, against my guardians,* my
parents having died, I went to Göttingen, with scant means, to
get a more general education, and I there got a love of science,
and a determination to make my own way.
Under whom did you study at Göttingen ?—I studied chemistry
under Wöhler, geology under Hausman, and physical science
under Himly and Listing, who had just come to the university.
My mathematical teacher was Stern. Then for a short time I
worked in the magnetic observatory of William Weber, but he did
* See note on page 26.
CHAP. VIII.]
347
LECTURE ON WASTE.
not lecture there at that time. I got admission only to assist in
the magnetic observations.
What age were you then?-Eighteen years of age.
Your training was different from the usual training of a German
technologist ?—It was.
Dr. Siemens's examination before the Commission was
very long and full. He was evidently treated as a high
authority, and he stated his opinions more in detail, and on
a wider range of subjects than in his addresses generally.
Lecture on "Waste.”
He
In October, 1882, he accepted an invitation to distribute
the prizes to the Science Classes at Coventry, when he
delivered an address with the singular title of "Waste."
He had prepared, as he usually did, somewhat complete
notes of what he was going to say; but by an accident
quite unusual with him, he found, when it was time for him
to begin, that he had left these notes at the hotel.
would not, however, delay the meeting, but he gave the
lecture extempore. It was taken down in shorthand by a
reporter, and was published in the Coventry Herald and
Free Press, some few extra copies being struck off for him.
The lecture has been lost sight of in England, but it was
translated and republished in Germany, where its novelty
and ingenuity made considerable sensation. It is reprinted
in his collected papers.
City Guilds.
On the 14th December, 1882, he undertook, at the re-
quest of the City and Guilds of London Institute, to deliver
the prizes and certificates to the pupils at their Technical
College, and in his address on that occasion he took the
348
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
opportunity of remarking generally on the constitution of
the Guilds of London, and of comparing it with that of the
ancient Guilds of Germany, which he had made himself
well acquainted with during his school-time at Lübeck (see
Chap. III., page 19).
DOMESTIC LIFE.
The beginning of the year 1880 found Dr. and Mrs.
Siemens in Naples, from which place they made many
excursions to the well-known places of interest in the
neighbourhood.
The museum was a great source of
delight to them, and Dr. Siemens had the good fortune
to secure a fine vase which had been found shortly before
in the region of Ancona, and was supposed to bear a date
about 400 years before the Christian era. It now stands in
the hall of the house at Sherwood. The love of the beau-
tiful was a strong feature in William's character, and the
pictures, sculpture, and decoration of his houses gave
unequivocal evidence of his taste in matters of art.
In February, 1880, Dr. Siemens was elected a foreign
member of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm.
On the 4th of August, 1880, Carl Siemens and his family
left England to settle again in St. Petersburg. It was a
source of deep regret to both Dr. and Mrs. Siemens thus
to part from those with whom for eleven years they had
lived a happy and united family life.
On the 23rd of August, they went to Düsseldorf, where
the British Iron and Steel Institute met in this year. A
most agreeable time was passed there; every attention and
kind hospitality being shewn to all the members. The
CHAP. VIII.]
349
DOMESTIC LIFE.
fame of the brothers Siemens had reached the place, and
at a banquet given in the Town Hall, the healths of
Werner and William were drunk with acclamation.
On the 18th of September, another great gathering of
the Siemens Stift mentioned in Chapter II. (page 16)
took place at Goslar, in the Harz. This was remarkable
in that all the members interested, sixty-three in number,
of "all sorts and conditions" were present, a very
unusual occurrence.
On October 18th, Dr. Siemens gave a lecture in the
schoolroom of Marylebone Presbyterian Church, to the
Young Men's Societies' Union, on "the Natural Forces,
and their Utilization," with illustrations. No copy of this
has been preserved, but it is recollected that the descrip-
tions and illustrations were excellently adapted to the
inexperienced minds of his auditory. He never grudged
either his time or his trouble if he thought he could open a
field of interest, on subjects which young intellects could
further search out for themselves.
In November, 1880, he made an important present to
the Oxford University Museum. During the operations
attendant on the construction of the Indo-European
Telegraph, he had become possessed of a valuable collection
of Greek antiquities, including a human skull, and many
silver, bronze, and other relics found near Kertch. After
keeping them for some years, he resolved to place them
where they would be accessible to the public, and he sent
them accordingly to the above-named institution. He
received a formal acknowledgment, accompanied by the
following friendly letter from the curator.
350.
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
UNIVERSITY MUSEUM, Oxford,
DEAR DR. SIEMENS,—
20th November, 1880.
I have the pleasure of informing you that your gift of a
Collection of Greek Antiquities from Kertch has been safely
received, and has been most gladly accepted on behalf of the
University by the Delegates of the Museum.
I enclose the usual formal acknowledgment, but I am requested
also to inform you that a special vote of thanks to you for your
valuable and munificent present was recorded by the Delegates
at their meeting on the 9th instant.
Believe me to remain, very faithfully yours,
HENRY J. S. SMITH,
Keeper of the Museum.
C. W. SIEMENS, ESQ., D.C.L., F.R.S.,
3, Palace Houses, Kensington.
In the spring of 1881, Mrs. Siemens's health being still
delicate, Dr. Siemens accompanied her to Cannes, and as
the French Scientific Association held their meeting in
April of that year at Algiers, he took the opportunity of
crossing over from Marseilles to attend it, and his sojourn
there interested him much. They returned by Genoa and
the Italian Lakes, and crossed the Simplon Pass, which,
though just opened for wheel carriages, was still in its
winter garb.
Soon after his return he received from the Goldsmiths'
Company the compliment conveyed in the following
letter:
GOLDSMITHS' HALL, LONDON, E.C.,
19th May, 1881.
SIR,-
I have the honour to inform you that a Resolution has
been passed by the Court of Assistants of the Goldsmiths' Com-
pany, granting to you the Freedom and Livery of the Company
without payment of the fine and fees.
CHAP. VIII.]
351
GOLDSMITHS' COMPANY.
I have summoned a Court of Wardens to meet here this
afternoon at before 4, when I hope it may be convenient to
attend here for the purpose of being admitted.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
WALTER PRIDEAUX,
C. W. SIEMENS, ESQ., D.C.L., F.R.S., &c.
Clerk.
On the 31st May, 1881, he presided at a dinner for the
Fund of the Iron, Hardware, and Metal Trades Pension
Society. During this address, he gave some particulars
of a Pension Fund he had established at his own works;
and some large manufacturers present were so struck with
this, that they applied to him afterwards to guide them in
setting up a similar fund for themselves.
In November, 1881, Mrs. Siemens's mother, Mrs. Gordon,
who had long been a revered guest in Dr. Siemens's family,
died at Sherwood, at the advanced age of 94. A month
or two afterwards, an old nurse, also resident on the estate,
and who had been for 76 years a loved friend of the Gordon
family, also died, aged 96.
On June 29th, 1882, Dr. Siemens attended at Dublin to
receive the honorary degree of LL.D., which was conferred
on him by the University.
From there he travelled to Scotland, and Mrs. Siemens,
with her sister, met him at Inverness, whence they pro-
ceeded together to Dunrobin Castle on a visit to the Duke
of Sutherland. It was a great interest to the sisters to
shew Dr. Siemens the homes of their ancestors; and,
finding the old family burial ground of the Gordons of
Carroll in some disorder, he asked leave to repair and
decorate it; and he erected a monument, on which, to the
satisfaction of the family, his own name was afterwards
mentioned as the restorer.
352
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
In August, 1882, he was called on to give evidence
before the Ordnance Select Committee on the manufacture
of heavy guns, but no account of the opinions he expressed
was made public.
After the British Association meeting at Southampton,
Dr. and Mrs. Siemens made some pleasant visits in
Scotland; a few days at Dunira, with the late Lord Cairns
and his family; then at Haddo House, where they were the
guests of Lord and Lady Aberdeen; whence they went to
their old friends, Sir William and Lady Thomson, at their
house near Largs.
On the 11th January, 1883, a compliment was paid to
Dr. Siemens by the presentation to him of the Freedom
and Livery of the Turners' Company. This company,
although not one of the rich city bodies, had made them-
selves famous by being among the first to revive, in modern
times, the encouragement given to the actual practice of
the trades they represented. In 1854, the company insti-
tuted prizes for the best specimens of turning, in wood,
metal, ivory, and other materials; and since 1870, these
have been given annually, to the amount of some £140 a
year.
They have also adopted the practice of electing as hono-
rary members of the company, persons distinguished for
their skill in mechanics. Previously to this date, the com-
pany had so elected Sir William Armstrong, Sir Joseph
Whitworth, Sir Henry Bessemer, Sir Frederick Bramwell,
Sir John Brown, Sir Charles Hutton Gregory, and
others.* Dr. Siemens was elected "in recognition of his
eminence as an engineer, his successful application of physical
* Among whom the author of this work is proud to find himself
included.
CHAP. VIII.]
35.3
KNIGHTHOOD.
science to valuable practical purposes, especially to electricity
and metallurgy, and his personal support of technical educa-
tion." Dr. John Percy, the eminent metallurgist, was also
awarded the same distinction. A letter was read from Sir
Henry Bessemer, in which he stated that "never had the
Turners' Company done more honour to themselves than
by enrolling among their members two gentlemen who
had so highly distinguished themselves in the progress and
development of metallurgical science."
On the 4th of April, 1883, his sixtieth birth-day, he
received the following letter from Mr. Gladstone, then
Prime Minister.
DEAR SIR,-
10, DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL,
4th April, 1883.
It gives me great pleasure to inform you that I have the
permission of Her Majesty to propose that you should receive the
honour of Knighthood, in recognition of the service which you
have rendered to the cause of science.
I hope the proposal may be agreeable to you.
I remain, dear sir, faithfully yours,
C. W. SIEMENS, ESQ., F.R.S., &c., &c.
W. E. GLADSTONE.
The actual ceremony is thus described in the Court
Circular, dated Osborne, April 21, 1883 :-
The Queen held a Council at Osborne yesterday. . . .
After the Council the following gentlemen were severally
introduced to Her Majesty's presence by the Lord Steward, and
received the honour of knighthood, Sir William Harcourt being
present as Secretary of State of the Home Department :-
Mr. Justice C. B. Butt; Mr. Justice A. L. Smith; Mr. C.
William Siemens; Mr. F. A. Abel, C.B.; Mr. Alderman A.
Woodiwiss; Mr. Alderman T. Baker; Mr. Richard Henry Wyatt;
and Mr. Henry Darvill,
A A
354
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
General the Right Hon. Sir Henry Ponsonby, K.C.B., and
Major-General Du Plat were in attendance.
H.R.H. Princess Beatrice was present with Her Majesty
during the ceremony.
The congratulations sent to Sir William and Lady
Siemens were legion; expressing not only gratification at
the event, but a conviction of the honour being appropriate
and well merited.
Even Punch celebrated the occasion by a clever fancy
sketch, by Linley Sambourne, of Sir William's head, con-
tained in the globe of an incandescent electric lamp, and
darting out refulgent rays;—the inscription underneath
being, "The Electric Knight-Light."
On Dr. Siemens obtaining his Knighthood the officials and
workmen of the Landore Company determined to present
him with an illuminated address of congratulation, and the
pretty idea occurred to some one that it might be enclosed
in a casket which should be a model of his Regenerative Gas
Furnace, as applied to the steel manufacture at Landore.
Such a casket was accordingly made; it was an exact
model; the parts in brickwork were represented in ivory,
and the iron work was made of Siemens steel. The size of
it is about 10 inches square and 8 inches high, being
one forty-eighth the dimensions of the original furnace. A
picture of the Landore Steel Works is engraved on one side,
and an allegorical trophy of articles of steel in another place.
The upper part is removable, covering a recess for the
parchment.
The address is as follows:-
TO SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS, IL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., &c., &c.
We, the officials and workmen of the Landore Siemens Steel
Company, Limited, respectfully avail ourselves of this opportunity
CHAP. VIII.]
355
MODEL OF FURNACE.
to congratulate you on the honour of Knighthood which Her Most
Gracious Majesty has been pleased to confer upon you.
We appreciate the fitness of this distinguished recognition of
your varied scientific labours, which have contributed so largely to
the development of the industrial importance of this kingdom,
and hope that you will accept our meed of admiration, which we
have embodied in the form of a model of a Siemens's Regenera-
tive Steel Melting Furnace, as used at Landore, where by your
untiring efforts so many improvements have been effected in
your valuable steel-making processes, and being also typical of
that section of your work that more intimately connects us with
you.
We especially feel the appropriateness of the recent mark of
Royal favour, from considerations of the important position
attained by your invention; the quantity of steel made to
the end of last year by your process being upwards of 4,000,000
tons.
We also tender this to you as a sincere expression of our high
esteem, regard, and gratitude, hoping that Divine Providence may
long spare you to continue to benefit the various departments of
human knowledge and industry, which your genius has already so
much enriched.
We have the pleasure and honour to subscribe ourselves, on
behalf of the employés.
(Here follow fifteen signatures of the Chief Officials of the
Works.)
LANDORE SIEMENS STEEL WORKS, 1883.
The model took some months to make, being so full of
small details; but, when it was finished, it was arranged
that the presentation should be made at a public dinner to
be given to Sir William Siemens at Landore Works, on
the 17th of November, 1883, and the invitations were issued
accordingly.
About a week before the day, the presentation was post-
poned; and it never took place. The model was after-
A A 2
356
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
wards sent to Lady Siemens, and it is now among the most
prized works of art in her house at Sherwood,
On the 27th of June Sir William's most respected friend,
William Spottiswoode, President of the Royal Society,
died. The following is an extract of a letter written
shortly afterwards to Sir William Thomson :-
;
29th June, 1883.
A sad blow has come upon us all through the death of
Spottiswoode. Few men combined so many noble qualities and
filled their places more worthily. Personally I have lost in him a
very esteemed and kind friend. I was the first, I believe, to call
the attention of the Dean of Westminster to his great claims to
national recognition, and steps have been taken to give his
remains a resting-place in Westminster Abbey.
Mr. Spottiswoode was buried in the Abbey on the 5th of
July.
ILLNESS AND DEATH.
We now approach the last sad scene of this busy life.
The removal of Sir William from the sphere of his labour
was very sudden and unexpected.
Some of his most intimate friends had noticed for a little
time that he had a depressed look, which could not be
accounted for by any worldly care or anxiety; but there
was no suspicion of any derangement of health requiring
medical advice, and there was no relaxation of his ordinary
work. On the contrary, he was exerting himself more
than usual. Shortly after he had given his lecture at the
Vienna Electric Exhibition, he was obliged to return to
England to be present at the meeting of the British
CHAP. VIII.]
357
LAST ILLNESS.
Association at Southport, where, on the 19th of September,
he had to resign his Presidency, and introduce his successor,
Professor Cayley.
After this he travelled to Ireland to meet the Lord
Lieutenant at Port Rush on the 28th of September, for the
opening of the Electric Railway. He went from Glasgow
to Belfast, and a very rough crossing of the Irish Sea,
acting on a frame fatigued by incessant occupation and
hard travelling for many days, brought on unpleasant
sensations of giddiness, which he had experienced be-
fore when over-worked. But the success of the railway
opening and the congratulations of his friends inspirited
him, and in a few days he returned home apparently
well again.
He paid a few visits with his wife in England, and then
left again to resume his duties at the Vienna Exhibition,
remaining there till it closed, and returning on the Ist of
November.
He still showed no serious ailment; but there can be
little doubt now that the unusually hard work of the last
few months had undermined his strength. Instead of
getting, as he was wont to do, an autumn holiday, to recruit
his mental and bodily powers, he had exerted both body
and mind much more than usual.
There had been appointed for Monday, the 5th of
November, a meeting of the Council of the Society of
Arts, and as Chairman he should, if possible, have attended.
But in the early part of the day he caused the following
letter to be sent to the Secretary :-
DEAR SIR,-
:
5th November, 1883.
Sir William Siemens instructs me to say that he regrets
he shall not be able to attend the Council Meeting of the Society
358
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
of Arts to-day; he has an important matter to bring before the
managers of the Royal Institution, whose first meeting takes.
place to-day at the same hour as your own.
I am, &c.,
E. F. BAMBER.
Walking home from this meeting about five o'clock in
the afternoon with his friend Sir Frederick Bramwell, he
was crossing the opening of Hamilton Place on the north
side of Piccadilly, when, not noticing in time the kerbstone
of the pavement, he fell heavily with his left arm under
him. He felt no serious hurt and walked on home; taking
no notice of the fall except to laugh at it.
For three days afterwards, he was at his place of busi-
ness as usual, and on one of these days he wrote a letter
to Sir William Thomson, saying nothing of illness, but
full of plans for the immediate future, chiefly as to the
realization at Sherwood of his latest ideas in the production
of heat without smoke.
On Thursday, the 8th, the last day he was at his
office, he spent the whole morning in dictating to his secre-
tary, Mr. Bamber, a large portion of the address which he
was to give on the 21st November, as Chairman of the
Council of the Society of Arts. But on attempting to walk
home as usual, he found the exertion almost too much for
him, from pain and breathlessness, and he was obliged to
sit down and rest in the Park several times.
On Friday, the 9th, he remained at home; but he was
still not incapacitated for work, for he gave attention to
a matter which, though of little real importance, caused
him some annoyance. It had reference to the manage-
ment of the steel works at Landore.
The previous day he had received the following letter
from a friend at Bradford, Yorkshire :-
CHAP. VIII.]
359
SUNDAY LABOUR.
November 7th, 1883.
DEAR SIR,-
We had a discussion this week on the opening of
Museums and Free Lectures on Sundays, and among other things
your name was introduced. It was stated that at your works at
Swansea the men had struck work against Sunday labour, and
after being out eleven weeks had gone in again (that is, had
accepted Sunday labour as before). Also that you were a Vice-
Chairman or Member of the Sunday Society.
Would you mind giving me all information possible on this
question ?
I may say I am in favour of opening them on Sundays, and
should feel obliged if you would give me the information. Excuse
me troubling you.
Yours truly.
Sir William Siemens answered this as follows:-
9th November, 1883.
DEAR SIR,-
I have pleasure to reply to your inquiries regarding my
views on Sunday labour and Sunday spending.
I have the greatest possible objection to Sunday labour, and if
your informant were to visit the Landore Steel Works he would
be satisfied that Sunday labour is reduced to the least possible
amount, and that a foreman engineer was discharged very lately
because he persisted in Sunday work, on account of the extra
wages.
The steel-melting furnaces and the blast furnaces of the works
cannot be put out, however, during Sunday without entailing such
heavy losses that the whole works would come to a standstill, and
it was only a pretence on the part of some of the workmen last
year, to raise an objection against such indispensable Sunday
work in order to cover other demands. The men had, indeed,
been excited by professional agitators, and are at present well
satisfied.
Regarding the Sunday Society, I think that what they demand
would prove beneficial to the working classes and be consistent
360
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
with religious feeling. I therefore allowed my name to stand as a
supporter of the movement, although I have not taken an active
part in their proceedings.
I am, yours truly,
WILLIAM SIEMENS.
In the early morning of Saturday, the 10th, he awoke
with an acute pain in the region of the heart, and with
coldness in the lower limbs. Medical aid was sent for, and
the remedies that were applied, hot baths and friction,
removed the pain. There was also some congestion of
the left lung, but this passed temporarily away, and Sir
William spent two or three days in the drawing-room.
Indeed, so much better did he seem, that it was arranged
he should go to his country seat at Sherwood, where it
was hoped he would be able to get that complete rest
which was thought necessary for his recovery.
On Monday, the 12th, he acknowledged the award to
him of the Howard prize by the Institution of Civil
Engineers, as mentioned on page 339.
In the meantime, some explanation had been received
from his Bradford correspondent, and on the 14th he
dictated and signed the following further communica-
tion
3, PALACE HOUSES, KENSINGTON GARDENS, W.,
14th November, 1883.
DEAR SIR,-
I am in receipt of your further communication regard-
ing the statement which appears to have been made in your
town about myself, upon apparently the most meagre possible
information.
*
*
*
*
*
It may interest you to learn that some hundreds of the work-
men at the Landore Steel Works have invited me, their Chairman,
CHAP. VIII.]
361
LAST ILLNESS.
•
to a public dinner, which was fixed for the 17th inst., to
present me, I believe, with a handsome model of the very steel
furnace that will not be put out like a kitchen fire every Sunday,
while on the other hand it gives daily bread to about 2000
families of the neighbourhood.
A slight accident makes it unfortunately impossible for me to
attend on the 17th, and the banquet has to be put off till the
Ist of December. It will be attended, I am informed, by the
M.P.'s and other leading men of the district, and will give me an
excellent opportunity of pleading my own cause before the parties
said to be aggrieved, who will be my hosts; and before gentlemen
of cultivated understanding.
I am glad to learn that you personally approve of Sunday
lectures, which I am only sorry that press of other engagements
prevents me from giving the heart-felt support that they deserve.
The enclosed card will enable you to judge more clearly the
character of the intended festival.
Yours faithfully,
WILLIAM SIEMENS.*
This was his last business effort. On the same day he
appears to have taken a chill, which affected his lungs,
for on that night he was attacked by a difficulty of breath-
ing; and although not actually confined to his bed, he
never left his room again.
Still, however, no fatal result was feared, for on the
afternoon of the 19th, two medical men had consulted
together, and had spoken hopefully of him.
He remained for four hours after this in a calm state;
but about nine o'clock in the evening, as he was sitting
in his arm-chair, a change was observed suddenly to come
over him, and peacefully and quietly, as if he were falling
asleep, his spirit passed away.
* This correspondence was published in the Bradford Observer of
20th December, 1883.
362
[CHAP. VIII.
LAST YEARS.
A post-mortem examination was made, and it was then
found that there had been a serious disease of the heart of
long standing, and that its influence had been aggra-
vated by a slight rupture due to the fall. He could
not have lived long, and it was a matter of wonder that
the disease had not affected his general health at an earlier
time.
CHAPTER IX.
“ANERKENNUNG.”
Expressions of Sympathy-Telegrams from Royal Personages-
Funeral Service in Westminster Abbey-Memorial Window-
Éloge by Sir Frederick Bramwell-Obituary Notices-Resolutions
of Learned Societies-Press Notices-Lectures and Addresses—
Special Traits of Character.
THE news of Sir William Siemens's death made a great
sensation; and the first impulse was the expression of
sympathy with his bereaved relatives.
Dr. Werner Siemens received by telegraph the following
messages :-
From the Queen of Prussia and Empress of Germany.
GEH. REGIERUNGSRATH DR. SIEMENS,
MARKGRAFENSTRASSE, 94.
Ihre Majestät die Kaiserin und Königin lassen Ew. Hoch-
wohlgeboren Allerhöchst Ihr aufrichtiges Beileid an dem
beklagenswerthen Ableben des Sir William Siemens, und die
vollste Trauer über diesen grossen Verlust ausdrücken.
Kabinetssekretair Ihrer Majestät,
(Gez.) VON DEM KNESEBECK.
From His Royal Highness Prince William of Prussia.
Se. Königl. Hoheit Prinz Wilhelm von Preussen beauftragt
mich Ihnen seine besondere und herzliche Theilnahme mit dem
364
[CHAP. IX.
"ANERKENNUNG.”
Verlust auszusprechen, welchen Sie durch das Hinscheiden Ihres
Bruders erlitten haben.
Im Höchsten Auftrag,
(Gez.)
HAUPTMANN v. BÜLOW,
persönlicher Adjutant.
POTSDAM, MARMORPALAST,
den 21 November, 1883.
The Austrian Crown Prince telegraphed to Lady
Siemens as follows:-
Genehmigen Sie den Ausdruck schmerzlichster Theilnahme
eines warmen Verehrers Ihres verewigten Gatten.
RUDOLF.*
THE FUNERAL.
When the sad tidings became known in Westminster,
on the morning of the 20th, it was at once felt that a
public expression might gracefully be made of that ap-
preciation which Englishmen owed to one who, though a
foreigner by birth, had given them the benefits of his inven-
*The following are translations of the three telegrams in the
text :-
From the Empress of Germany.
Her Majesty the Empress wishes to express her true sympathy and
most sincere sorrow for the great loss sustained in the mournful death
of Sir William Siemens.
From Prince William of Prussia.
His Royal Highness Prince Wilhelm desires me to express to you
his most special and heartfelt sympathy with you in the loss of your
brother.
From the Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary to Lady
Siemens.
Accept the expression of most sorrowful sympathy from one who
warmly esteemed your now immortal husband.
CHAP. IX.]
365
THE FUNERAL.
tive genius, and had thus become a public benefactor to the
country of his adoption.
The influential officers of the two institutions with which
he was most nearly connected, namely, the Institution of
Civil Engineers and the Society of Arts, took the initiative
in this matter, and on Wednesday morning, the 21st of
November, the following letter was written to the Dean of
Westminster :-
THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS,
25, GT. GEORGE Street, S.W.,
21st November, 1883.
The Very Reverend the DEAN OF WESTMINSTER.
REVEREND SIR,-
I am desired by the Council of this Institution to bring
under
your notice the loss which the world has sustained by the
death of Sir William Siemens.
His exceptionally great abilities had won for him universal
distinction. His attainments in many branches of Science and
its applications were so various that he had occupied the positions
of President of the British Association, of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, of the Iron and Steel Institute, and of the
Society of Telegraph Engineers. For many years he had belonged
to this Institution, of the Council of which he was a member.
Honoured by Foreign Sovereigns, by Foreign Academies, by the
Universities of this Country, he also lately received a special
mark of Royal favour as a recognition of his great merits.
Under these circumstances, the Council venture to express the
earnest hope that you, Reverend Sir, may see fit to allow his
remains to rest in the venerable Abbey under your charge.
I have the honour to be, Reverend Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
JAMES BRUNLEES,
Fresident.
In the afternoon of the same day the following reply
was received :—
366
[CHAP. IX.
“ANERKENNUNG.”
SIR,-
DEANERY, WESTMINSTER, S.W.,
November 21st, 1883.
I much regret that, owing to my being engaged this
afternoon at two important meetings, some delay has occurred in
my receiving and answering the memorial which lies before me.
I may, however, say at once that the question to which it refers
had been anxiously considered before any direct communication
had reached me.
As regards the claims of the late lamented Sir William Siemens
to national recognition, on the ground alike of his scientific
attainments and his important services to the comfort and welfare
of mankind there can, I imagine, be no doubt.
So far, however, as regards the special mode of honouring his
memory by his interment in the Abbey, I feel myself, with great
regret, unable to accede to the wish expressed in the memorial.
Recent investigations have compelled me to realize to myself
the exceedingly restricted space that is left at the disposal, for this
purpose, of the present and future guardians of the Abbey. It is
absolutely necessary that interments within its walls should take
place only on the rarest occasions, and in, so far as human judg
ment can be trusted, absolutely exceptional cases.
I am expressing no opinion as to other modes of honouring the
memory of one whose striking claims to distinction have, as the
memorial before me points out, been, I rejoice to see, so widely
and gratefully recognized in his lifetime.
Believe me to remain, very faithfully yours,
THE PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTION
OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
G. G. BRADLEY.
The Dean further stated, in oral communications, that
in making arrangements for the funeral of Mr. Spottiswoode
(the President of the Royal Society, who had been buried
in the Abbey on the 5th of July) he was deeply impressed
with the extremely restricted space now available, and it
was obvious to him that it must be jealously guarded for
the future.
CHAP. IX.]
367
THE FUNERAL.
He, however, expressed himself ready to meet the wishes.
of the applicants as far as possible, and he let it be under-
stood that he was not unwilling to consider the question
of erecting a bust, or other memorial in the Church, or even
of holding the principal part of the funeral service there,
if any such proposal should meet with influential support,
particularly by persons independent of the engineering
profession.
Emboldened by this concession, the Institutions decided
to make a formal request for a public recognition of Sir
William's great achievements in Science by a funeral service
in Westminster Abbey, and they presented it on Thursday,
supported by the following letter:-
To the Very Reverend the DEAN OF WESTMINSTER.
REVEREND SIR,—
We, the undersigned, earnestly desire to support a
memorial which we understand has been presented to you by
the Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers and other public
bodies, urging the claims for the funeral service of the late Sir
William Siemens being held in Westminster Abbey.
This received in one day the signatures of a large number
of distinguished persons. At their head was His Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales, and following him were the
Marquis of Hartington, Viscount Cranbrook, Lord Bram-
well, Lord Alfred Churchill, Sir Rutherford Alcock, Sir
John Lubbock, the President and other officers of the Royal
Society, Sir Joseph Hooker, Sir Frederick Leighton, Pro-
fessor Richard Owen, the Astronomer Royal, Archdeacon
Farrar, and many other well-known names.
The Dean was perfectly satisfied with this support, and
he acceded to the prayer of the memorial.
The burial took place on Monday, the 26th of November.
368
[CHAP. IX.
"ANERKENNUNG.”
The relatives and friends of the deceased and of Lady
Siemens met at the residence in Palace Houses, from
whence the coffin was borne on an open funeral car to
Westminster Abbey, accompanied by the principal relations
on both sides, and by a few intimate friends.
Meanwhile, distinguished public personages and repre-
sentatives of scientific bodies were assembling in the
Jerusalem Chamber or in the Abbey, members of societies
not attending in official capacities having places assigned
them in the sacrarium or transepts, and the choir and
seats under the tower being reserved for Presidents, Vice-
Presidents, Members of Council, and officers of the Societies
invited to be present. The ancient tapestried chamber
which had been the scene of many such sad gatherings,
was filled-indeed crowded-with the many warm friends
whom the genial nature of the man had won to him, not
only among men of his own profession, but among those
whose pursuits were widely different,
The Prince of Wales was represented by one of his
grooms-in-waiting, Mr. Andrew Cockerill; the German
Ambassador, Count Münster, was there, and others who
came were the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Childers;
the First Commissioner of Works, Mr. Shaw Lefevre;
Lord Bramwell; Lord Claud Hamilton; Mr. F. R.
Pickersgill, Keeper to the Royal Academy, representing
the President, Sir F. Leighton; Sir Theodore Martin, and
other distinguished individuals.
Taking the scientific societies and their representatives
in the order in which they were marshalled to join the
procession, there were, as pall-bearers, Professor Huxley,
President of the Royal Society; Sir Frederick Bramwell,
predecessor of Sir William Siemens in the office of
Chairman of Council of the Society of Arts; Mr. (now Sir
James) Brunlees, President of the Institution of Civil Engi-
CHAP. IX.]
369
THE FUNERAL.
neers; Mr. Percy Westmacott, President of the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers; Professor Sir William Thomson,
for the British Association; Professor Tyndall, for the
Royal Institution; Mr. Willoughby Smith, President of
the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians; and
Sir James Ramsden, representing the Iron and Steel
Institute.
These societies were also represented by other office-
bearers and members of council, among whom were some
of the most distinguished men of science and engineers
of the day. There were also officially present represen-
tatives of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal
Institution of British Architects, the Chemical Society,
the Royal Meteorological Society, the Institution of Naval
Architects, the Society of Engineers, the Geological
Society, the Society of Chemical Industry, the Physical
Society, and the German Athenæum.
Forming a long procession, the occupants of the Jerusalem
Chamber filed past the Westminster School-room, and
meeting the family mourners at the entrance from Dean's
Yard, took their appointed places, and followed the coffin
through the Cloister to the Canon's door in the south side
of the Abbey. As the body was borne into the building
the choristers began to chant the opening sentences of the
Burial Service, singing as they walked, and leading the way
up the centre of the nave into the choir.
The clergy
present were the Dean, Archdeacon Farrar, Canon
Prothero, Canon Duckworth, Canon Rowsell, the Rev.
Flood Jones, Precentor, and the Rev. J. H. Cheadle and
the Rev. E. Price, minor canons.
The gold-fringed black and white pall was thrown back
over one end of the coffin, that the more beautiful cover-
ing of flowers might not be disturbed. Many of these
loving gifts had come from distant places.
The Earl and
B B
370
[CHAP. IX.
“ANERKENNUNG.”
Countess of Aberdeen sent a wreath; one of palm branches
came from the establishment of Messrs. Siemens and
Halske at Berlin; others from those at Woolwich and at
Westminster, and there were some from nearly every
country in Europe.
The Anthem was one composed by Dr. J. F. Bridge for
the funeral of Mr. Darwin, to the following words :-
"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and getteth understanding.
"She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst
desire are not to be compared unto her.
66
Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches
and honour.
"Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."
After the lesson, which was read by the Dean, a hymn
(No. 401, Hymns Ancient and Modern"), beginning,
"Now the labourer's task is o'er," was sung, and the
Benediction having been pronounced by the Dean, the
coffin was carried out of the Abbey through the north
aisle door, the organ playing the "Dead March in
Saul."
It seemed as if the greater part of the large assemblage
must have joined the procession to the cemetery at Kensal
Green, for at no point in the route could the whole length
of the string of carriages be seen. The chief employés at
Westminster and Woolwich followed, as well as a deputation
from Berlin. At the cemetery there were also present many
of the workmen from the telegraph factory.
The grave was formed beside one in which the mother
of Lady Siemens had been laid to rest a few years before.
Its head was encircled by a bank of grass and flowers
breast high, and its sides were hidden by flowers and
fern fronds.
The committal sentences and prayers were read by the
Rev. H. R. Haweis.
CHAP. IX.]
371
THE FUNERAL.
The inscription on the coffin was simply-
C. WILLIAM SIEMENS,
DIED 19TH NOVEMBER, 1883,
AGED 60 YEARS.
It was a pathetic and yet a noble ending to the scene,
when his brother Werner, who had been his elder play-
mate in childhood, his faithful guardian in youth, and
his true and loving friend all his life through, turned away
sadly from the grave, and exclaimed to a relation walking
with him:-
Nun das ist vollendet!
Ein so volles Leben! ein so
schöner Tod! und eine solche ANERKENNUNG!
Ich könnte ihn beneiden!
The word "Anerkennung," here so emphatically used,
furnishes an appropriate title for this final chapter; sum-
ming up, as it does, the testimony spontaneously offered
to Sir William Siemens's character and merits, and the
public appreciation of the benefits he had conferred on the
world.
A simple monument was subsequently erected over the
grave, on which was sculptured an admirable medallion
portrait of Sir William, by Mr. Bruce Joy.
MEMORIAL WINDOW.
The other suggestion of the Dean of Westminster,
namely, that a bust or other memorial might be erected in
the Abbey, was not forgotten.
The Institution of Civil Engineers again took the lead.
The Council believed it would be possible to obtain
the concurrence of the other kindred societies in the
promotion of an "Engineers' Memorial" to Sir William
BB 2
372
[CHAP. IX.
“ ANERKENNUNG.”
Siemens; and, as a preliminary step, they applied to the
Dean, asking if it would be agreeable to the authorities of
the Abbey that a Memorial Window should be erected
therein.
Having obtained a reply in the affirmative, the councils,
past presidents, and officers of the following societies,
namely:-The Institution of Civil Engineers; The In-
stitution of Mechanical Engineers; The Institution of
Naval Architects; the Iron and Steel Institute; and the
Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians, were
invited to attend a meeting "to consider what steps should
be taken to promote an Engineers' Memorial to the late
Sir William Siemens."
The meeting was held on the 28th of June, 1884, the
President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the
chair; when it was resolved that such a memorial should
be erected, and that the subscription (confined to the
members of the Societies named) should be limited to one
guinea each. The estimated cost was from £700 to £800,
and a committee was formed to collect subscriptions, and
to carry out the proposal.
The committee entered into communication with the
architect of the Abbey, Mr. J. Pearson, R.A., and with
the artists, Messrs. Clayton and Bell, who, after the designs
had been settled, and had been approved by the Dean, were
commissioned to execute the work. It was completed and
fixed in November, 1885.
It was arranged that the ceremony of unveiling the
window should take place at 2 o'clock on the 26th of
November, being the second anniversary of the funeral.
The subscribers and other friends invited assembled in
the Jerusalem Chamber, where they were met by the
Abbey authorities. There were present several relations
CHAP. IX.]
373
MEMORIAL WINDOW.
and friends of Sir William and Lady Siemens, and many
representatives of the societies who had combined in
the undertaking, with Sir Frederick Bramwell, F.R.S.,
President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, at their
head.
The proceedings were opened by the Dean, who said:
Sir Frederick Bramwell, and all who are here to-day, either as the
representatives of a great profession or as the relatives and friends
of him whose memory we have met to honour ;—we may, I think,
well dispense with any formal handing over on your part to the
custodians of this venerable building of the memorial which you
have raised to your illustrious friend. You will at all events
permit me, in their name, gratefully to accept it. You will allow
me also to give a cordial welcome to those who at so exciting a
time have come here to inaugurate its enrolment among the
number of those monuments which recall, to successive gene-
rations of Christian worshippers and visitors from all lands, the
names of men who have rendered signal services to their fellow-
men. No pains have been spared to make that memorial worthy,
alike in conception and execution, of the spot in which it has
been placed and of him whose name it will recall-recall, I trust,
to far-distant ages, for I cannot believe that Englishmen of any
party or any school will allow those walls to moulder or that roof
to fall.
It is not for me to dwell for a moment on the signal services to
the cause, not only of science, but still more the application of
science to the well-being of mankind that will be always associated
with the name of Sir W. Siemens. Nor need I say one word of
the gap, still keenly felt, which his death has left in your ranks.
Even the weighty words of your president-weighty they must be
are not needed to make you feel deeply on such a subject. But
I may add my own personal testimony to the impression which
the character of your friend and leader, for such in a wide range
of subjects I may surely call him, made on all who came into
contact with him. He was, as you know and as I know, not only
admired and honoured, he was beloved and deplored.
May the window, which we shall now uncover, do its proper
374
[CHAP. IX.
“ ANERKENNUNG.”
work. May it not exclude but admit through storied glass the
chastened light of our too often sombre skies—a light whose subtle
and marvellous play on our walls and arches and arcades and
pillars and monuments sometimes touches, with an indefinable
power like that of music, the hearts of those who daily meet here
to worship One who has revealed himself to man in divers ways
and sundry measures, not least of all in the great realm of nature,
in the laws of light and all its kindred forces. And may it remind
us and far-off generations of the achievements and the character
of him whose memory will henceforth be here linked with that of
his illustrious brethren, whose names the floor on which we shall
soon stand and the walls beneath which we shall pass proclaim
and preserve the Newton, the Herschel, and the Darwin, the
Stephenson, the Locke, and the Brunel, the Barry, to which add
the Gilbert Scott, and Street—who sleep or are honoured hard by.
I have detained you long enough, and you will, I am sure, wish me
to ask for a few words from Sir F. Bramwell.
Sir F. Bramwell then spoke as follows :-
Mr. Dean, Dr. Werner Siemens, Miss Gordon, and other
relatives and private friends of the late Sir William Siemens.
In the first place, Mr. Dean, we have to thank you for
the kindly terms with which you have welcomed us. This
kindness is in continuation of that which two years ago accorded
to the late Sir William Siemens a public funeral service in this
Abbey.
We have met here to-day for the purpose of unveiling the
window which has been placed in the north aisle by certain of the
members of the five engineering institutions or societies with
which Sir William Siemens was connected. Of the Civil Engi-
neers he was for many years a member of the council; of the
Mechanical Engineers a past president; of the Naval Architects
a member of the council; of the Iron and Steel Institute a past
president; and of the Telegraph Engineers he was not only a past
president, but he was also one of the founders. It must not be
supposed that his connexion with these institutions was one of
mere title, or in any sense of a perfunctory character. The
positions that he filled in them would be sufficient to disprove
CHAP. IX.
x.]
375
ÉLOGE.
this; but the fact is that there is not one of them but was enriched
by his communications, and was benefited by his presence at its
meetings, and by his remarks at those meetings upon the com-
munications of others. It was the members of these societies
who felt that they might fairly claim for themselves the privilege
of placing here this token of their respect for the man who had done
so much for engineering science as a whole, and for each of these
societies in particular.
It would, we must all agree, be unseemly if we were to allow
the memorial window to be unveiled without a statement, however
brief, of some of the qualifications which earned for Sir William
Siemens the high position he attained. Leaving out of considera-
tion for the moment questions of pure science, it is only the truth
to say-truth unexaggerated by friendship and by the promptings
of regret that great as has been the development and progress
of engineering in this nineteenth century, no man contributed
more than the late Sir William Siemens to that development and
progress by the application of science to engineering and to the
industrial pursuits allied therewith. His very first visit to this
country was in connexion with an application of electric science,
and I think I am right in saying that so long as that science
exists and its records are preserved, the name of William Siemens
will be honoured as the author of important applications of
electricity in connexion with submarine and other telegraphy;
with lighting, and to some extent with the transmission of power;
and also to some extent with the utilization of electrical energy
for the fusion, on a commercial scale, of refractory materials, while
the employment of electric light as an adjunct to that of the sun
to stimulate vegetable growth must ever remain an interesting
contribution to science.
No man had more at heart the obtaining proper value from
the store of fuel that Providence has laid up for us, and no one
studied, more ardently and more successfully than did Sir William
Siemens, the means whereby heat-motors should give results more
nearly approaching to the limit of that which is theoretically
obtainable than was given by the motors then in use. The
annals of the Institution of Civil Engineers and those of the
Mechanical Engineers are replete with his instructions; and,
following up this subject of economy of fuel, we owe to Sir
•
376
[CHAP. IX.
"ANERKENNUNG.”
William Siemens the development in this country of those beau-
tiful inventions whereby, in many industrial and metallurgical
pursuits, fuel is saved and temperatures are attained, and attained
under a perfect state of control, admitting of novel processes
being pursued, such as, to take a typical example, the hearth
process of steel manufacture.
In matters of pure science we owe to Sir William Siemens
not merely the knowledge of the effect of continuous light upon
the growth of plants, to which I have already alluded, but we owe
many philosophical modes of measurement. It was a hardy con-
ception which devised the bathometer, by the aid of which, and
without taking soundings, the depth of the ocean could be ascer-
tained by the mere reading off of the indications given by the
instrument on board ship. Again, profound must have been the
thought that produced the electrical pyrometer, which, while
competent to deal with ordinary temperatures, was also suited
for ascertaining the highest temperatures, and the readings,
electrically transmitted, could be taken at any distance without
the removal of the instrument from the place the temperature of
which was being ascertained.
I know there are those who regret that Sir William Siemens
did not confine the employment of his remarkable talents to the
pursuit of pure science, but I do not think that this regret is
justified even in the interests of pure science itself, and I am
sure it is a regret that will not be shared in by mankind at large.
They, I believe, will agree that Sir William Siemens was doing
not only good but noble and high work when he used his talents
and devoted his scientific knowledge to the application of that
science to engineering and to industrial pursuits; and even purely
scientific men should rejoice that from time to time there are
found those who, like Sir William Siemens, make practically
useful for the purposes of life those truths which science has
discovered, but which, failing application, would remain inert
and barren of useful consequences; a condition of things which,
if it continuously prevailed, would inevitably cause all interest in
science to cease, resulting in the abandonment of the pursuit of
pure science itself.
It would be wrong to close these remarks without a reference
to those qualities which in the highest degree inspire our respect
CHAP. IX.]
377
MEMORIAL WINDOW.
-I mean his worth as a man. If modesty, kindliness, benevo-
lence, and truthfulness constitute a good man, then one may
unhesitatingly say that Sir William Siemens was, in the full sense
of the word, a good man; and those qualities met with their
recognition and their reward, even in this world, by the unbounded
confidence which was reposed in his honour.
I have not hitherto alluded to the fact, so well known to us all,
that Sir William Siemens was not by origin an Englishman. He
was a member of the great German race, born in Hanover, but he
came first among us when he had not attained his majority, and
after a few years settled in England, and then became naturalised
as an Englishman. I am glad to think that from his first appearance
here he was well received, and as years went on, and his mar-
vellous talents and most estimable qualities became more and more
known, the respect and the admiration that were felt for him in-
creased; and it is a deep satisfaction to us to know that in this
Abbey, a building venerated not only in the country of his adoption,
but in that of every English-speaking race, a building, the subject
of interest to the whole civilised world, we, his brother engineers,
have the privilege of placing that which I trust shall be a
memorial for ages to come of that able and good man who,
two years ago, was taken from us, but whose work will live in
industrial and in scientific records, and whose memory will live in
the hearts of all those by whom he was so justly respected and
beloved. One last word I have to say, and no one is better
entitled to say it than I am, that happy was the man who secured
his friendship, for that friendship never wavered and never waxed
cold.
The Dean then thanked Sir F. Bramwell for his address,
and a procession was formed to witness the unveiling of
the window, which is situated on the north side of the
nave, next to the window which commemorates another
great engineer, Robert Stephenson. The ceremony con-
cluded with the recital of a few prayers by the Dean.*
* These accounts of the ceremonies in Westminster Abbey are
taken from reports in the Times.
378
[CHAP. IX.
“ANERKENNUNG.”
The general outline of the window is shown on the
accompanying Plate, and the following is the description
of it given by the designers :—-
The design in this window is to set forth the sanctity of Labour,
illustrating the maxim "Laborare est orare.”
The treatment of the work comprises a series of groups repre-
senting, respectively, workers in Science, Art, and Manual Labour.
The window consists of two lights with a sixfoil in its traceried
head. Each of these lights is composed of three panels in
vertical order. In the left-hand light appear Ironsmiths,
Chemists, and Agriculturists; in the other, groups in corre-
sponding positions show Astronomers, Artists, and the Professor
with his scholars.
Between these groups are in all cases Angels bearing labels
inscribed with the words giving the key-note of the conception,
viz., "Laborare est orare.
In the sixfoil, at the head of the window, is a representation
of the Sun as the source of light, surrounded by the words
"Dixit autem Deus fiant luminaria in firmamento cœli," and by
the various heavenly bodies from which light emanates or is
reflected.
This passage of the design has special reference to the researches
of the eminent genius to whom the memorial is dedicated, and
whose portrait occurs in the figure of the Professor with his pupils
in the lower group in the right-hand light.
At the base is the following inscription :-
IN MEMORY OF CHARLES WILLIAM SIEMENS,
KNT., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., CIVIL ENGINEER,
BORN 4 APRIL, 1823: DIED 19 NOVEMBER, 1883.
ERECTED AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT BY HIS BROTHER ENGINEERS.
The artistic treatment of the work may be described as generally
in harmony with the architectural style of the Abbey. On the
other hand, its entire freedom from close antiquarianism recon-
ciles its effect with the significance of the subject-matter and the
spirit of the times.

LABORARE
EST OKRE
LABORARE
EST OPARE
LABORARE
EST ORARE
LABORARE
ESTORAR
1000
BORARE
TOARE
LABORARE
EST ORARE
EMBER 1933
LINM SIEMENS KRE
RECTED AS A DRIBYTE
FRS CIVIL ENGINEER BORN:
PECT BY HIS
BROTHER
"INK-PHOTO. SPRAGUE & CO. LONDON
STAINED GLASS WINDOW IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
"In Memory of CHARLES WILLIAM SIEMENS, KT., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.. Civil Engineer,
Born 4 April, 1823, Died 19 November, 1883.
ERECTED AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT BY HIS BROTHER ENGINEERS."
CHAP. IX.]
379
OBITUARY NOTICES.
The arrangements for the two ceremonies at the Abbey
were made, in conjunction with the Abbey authorities, and
Sir William's representatives, by the Institution of Civil
Engineers, through Mr. James Forrest, their secretary.
Sir William Siemens's will was proved on the 29th
December, 1883. It was dated on August 21st, 1882.
The executors were Mr. Alexander Siemens, Mr. Joseph
G. Gordon, and Mr. J. W. Budd, and the value of the
personal estate was sworn a little over £380,000.
He left no children.
OBITUARY NOTICES.
The eloquent éloge pronounced by Sir Frederick Bram-
well on his friend's memory may be appropriately followed
by a notice of the wide-spread manifestations of regret that
were called forth by his death, and which furnished unequi-
vocal proof of the general estimation in which he was held.
The various societies to which Sir William belonged,
hastened to record their grief at his loss, and to commu-
nicate sympathetic addresses to Lady Siemens.
The Institution of Civil Engineers, meeting the day
after his death, passed this resolution:
That this meeting desires to record the deep sense of the loss
the Institution has sustained by the decease of their eminent and
highly esteemed colleague, Sir William Siemens, and their sincere
sympathy with Lady Siemens in her irreparable bereavement.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Society
of Telegraph Engineers passed resolutions to a similar effect.
The Royal Institution put on record, at their meeting on
the 3rd of December, the following resolution :
In the death of Sir William Siemens the Royal Institution has
380
[CHAP. IX.
“ANERKENNUNG.”
lost an eminent member and a generous friend. The outcome of
his great practical researches was frequently brought before us in
lectures delivered in our theatre; he was our benefactor in pre-
senting to us apparatus of great value; while his wise counsel, as
a manager, was ever ready when the interests of the Institution
required it. He showed his veneration for one of its Professors
by naming a vessel-a model one of its kind-constructed under
his personal supervision for the transport and laying down of
telegraph cables, "The Faraday." In everything he touched,
practical genius, gifted by a knowledge of principles not frequent
among practical men, was displayed. In the domains of heat,
electricity, and metallurgy, he won his chief renown, and here the
ultimate issues of his labour are at present incalculable.
England, the land of his adoption, has lost through his death
an engineer of singular power, penetration, and many-sidedness.
The source of the quality last mentioned, by which he was cha-
racterised, was, first of all, inherent ability, and secondly, the com-
prehensive scientific education which he received in the seminaries
and universities of his native land. He came to us thoroughly
equipped with the theoretic knowledge necessary for practical
ends, and he applied that knowledge successfully to the most
varied spheres of action. As regards invention, he came of a
family to the manner born; all his brothers, and especially his
eldest brother, the celebrated Dr. Werner Siemens, having achieved
distinction in applying sciences to the uses of life.
William Siemens was a man of the most charming disposition,
genial, kindly, without jealousy or bitterness, and as a natural
result he secured not only the respect but the warm affection of
those who intimately knew him. The members who were present
on the occasion of our last monthly meeting will not readily forget
the animated description he then gave us from the chair of a new
application of steam power which he had just seen tried on the
River Spree near Berlin. How little could the freshness and the
vigour of that exposition prepare his hearers for the catastrophe
so soon to follow!
Among the members of the Royal Institution he has left many
mourning friends, who profoundly sympathize with his family in
their great bereavement, and more especially with Lady Siemens
in her irreparable loss.
CHAP. IX.]
381
OBITUARY NOTICES.
At a Council Meeting of the Society of Arts, held on
the 26th November, the following resolution was passed:
The Council of the Society of Arts desire to record their sense
of the very heavy loss which the Society has sustained by the
sudden death of their Chairman, Sir William Siemens.
Pre-eminent among those who have successfully devoted them-
selves to the advancement of knowledge, it was his peculiar merit
to have applied the results of scientific research to industrial
progress, and to the improvement of many of the conditions of
human life.
From the versatility of his genius and from the direction of his
more important labours, he was singularly well fitted to lead the
work of a society which, devoted to many and various objects,
has for its special provision the application of science to practical
purposes.
The Society which thirty-three years ago honoured itself by
the award of its gold medal in recognition of talents not then
evident to the world, now mourns the loss of one who was long
closely associated with its work, and who for some time back took
an important share in the administration of its affairs. His
talents were the admiration of his contemporaries, but his rare
personal merits could be known to those only who were fortunate
enough to share his friendship.
The facility with which he applied his powers to the solutions
of the most difficult scientific problems, was equalled by the
modesty with which he presented the successful results of his
efforts.
While thus recording their sense of their loss, the Council
desire further to express their deep sympathy with Lady Siemens
and with Sir William Siemens's distinguished brothers, Werner,
Carl, and Friedrich, who were so closely associated with his
labours.
This resolution was transmitted to Lady Siemens by
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, as President of
the Society, and was accompanied by the following
letter:
382
[CHAP. IX.
“ANERKENNUNG.”
MADAM,
December 27th, 1883.
As President of the Society of Arts, I have to com-
municate to you a Resolution adopted by the Council of that
Society at their last meeting, expressing at once the sincerity of
their regret at the loss of their distinguished Chairman of Council,
and their sympathy with yourself.
In doing this, you will permit me to add the assurance of my
own sympathy, and of my appreciation of the loss which the
country has sustained by the sudden death of Sir William
Siemens.
I am, Madam,
Your obedient Servant,
ALBERT EDWARD, P.,
President of the Society.
Some weeks afterwards, Lady Siemens sent a photograph
of Sir William to the Prince of Wales, who caused to be
transmitted to her the following gracious reply:
MY DEAR MADAM,—
SANDRINGHAM, Norfolk,
30th December, 1883.
I have not failed to place your letter and the photograph
which accompanied it, in the hands of the Prince of Wales.
I am desired to return you his sincere thanks for them, and to
assure you that it gives him very great pleasure to possess the
photograph of one whom he so highly respected and esteemed.
His Royal Highness considers the likeness a very good one,
and he much appreciates your having sent it to him.
Believe me, my dear Madam,
Yours very truly,
FRANCIS KNOLLYS.
But the most striking testimony to Sir William Siemens's
merits and character was furnished by the obituary notices
that appeared in the public press-remarkable both from
their great number and their earnest character.
CHAP. IX.]
383
PRESS NOTICES.
The extent of the manifestation was very wide. In the
first place, there was an original obituary notice in every
London daily journal, both morning and evening, in most
cases of considerable length, and sometimes accompanied
by a special leader. This, of itself, was sufficient to mark
the occurrence as one of much public interest.
Then followed the London weekly or bi-weekly journals;
in above fifty of which notices were seen.
It mattered no-
thing whether they were exclusive or popular, were learned
or simple, were general or intended for special readers. All
alike, whether such as the Athenæum, or the Academy, or the
Spectator, or the Figaro, or the Guardian, or the Record, or
the Graphic, or Truth, or the Court Circular, or the Satur-
day Review, or the Queen, or the Lancet, or the Builder, or
Nature, or the Broad Arrow, or Land and Water, or the
City Press, or the Penny Illustrated Newspaper, all had
words of praise for his life, and regret for his decease.
Then of country papers, there were a legion. Extracts
were noted in some sixty or seventy, but these were
certainly only a portion. Every paper in every town had
its notice, and Sir William's name seemed familiar to the
whole kingdom.
Such notices were not confined to England. The
German press teemed with complimentary obituaries; in
Paris alone paragraphs were inserted in sixteen journals;
in Brussels, St. Petersburg, and Vienna, his name ap-
peared; and in smaller and remoter places, such as Rouen,
Bordeaux, Riga, and Algiers, and even in the western hemi-
sphere the readers of the journals were supposed to know
who was meant by Sir William Siemens.
Some of the notices were written with great ability, and
showed much acquaintance with the subjects dealt with.*
* Among these may be specially cited those in the Times, written
by fellow-officers with him in the Society of Arts; in Engineering,
384
[CHAP. IX.
“ANERKENNUNG.”
In the best articles the admiration expressed was discrimi-
nating and explicit, and far removed from the stereotyped
forms of laudation so often used. A few extracts will
serve to show the general nature of the press appreciation
of Sir William's character and labours.
Times.
The death of Sir William Siemens, at the comparatively early
age of 61, deprives the world of the services of a singularly
powerful and fertile mind. His remarkable career was dis-
tinguished not less by unfailing goodness and generosity than by
intellectual activity. It will be admitted by all that if we are to
have a national Pantheon, none can more justly claim a place
therein than a man who has attained the highest eminence in the
subjects which it is the boast of the present day to have carried
to a perfection unknown before.
Sir William Siemens was essentially an inventor. In whatever
direction he turned, his thoughts seemed to perceive new methods
of working out old problems, or to discover new problems which it
immediately became his business to solve. The inventor proper
is one who, like Sir William Siemens, is continually throwing out
original ideas in spheres where others find it sufficiently difficult
to master what has already been done.
By his death English science has suffered a severe loss, and a
loss which will not readily be made good. At a time when the
tendency of science is more and more to specialise itself, and
scientific men are often compelled to study one particular branch of
a subject alone, it is very rare to find a mind like that of Sir William
Siemens, who devoted himself to many distinct branches of science,
and yet excelled in them all. Not only has he done much for the
advancement of pure science, but it may be said without contra-
written by his private secretary; and in Nature, contributed by his
most intimate scientific friend, Sir William Thomson. There was also
an excellent account of his metallurgical labours in the Engineer, and
a work lately published, "The Creators of the Age of Steel," by W. T.
Jeans (London, 1884), contains a memoir that deserves honourable
mention.
CHAP. IX.]
385
PRESS NOTICES.
diction that he has, beyond all his contemporaries, promoted the
practical application of scientific discoveries to industrial pur-
poses. He was an ardent scientific discoverer, a large and
successful manufacturer in at least two different branches of
industry, an engineer of high rank in the profession, and besides
this, he was a shrewd and clear-headed man of business.
Those who knew him may mourn the kindly heart, the generous
noble nature, so tolerant of imperfect knowledge, so impatient
only at charlatanism and dishonesty. The nation at large has
lost a faithful servant, chief among those who live only to better
the life of their fellow men by subduing the forces of nature to
their use. Looking back along the line of England's scientific
worthies, there are few who have served the people better than
this her adopted son; few, if any, whose life's record will show so
long a list of useful labours.
His lot was in many ways enviable, for he escaped, as very few
have, the shafts of envy; and to the end of his active and useful
career he was esteemed and honoured by his competitors and by
those who knew him best.
Standard.
The sudden death of Sir William Siemens is an irreparable loss
to industrial science in every quarter of the world where the fame
of his inventions has reached.
Daily News.
The death of Sir William Siemens leaves a large gap in the
ranks of applied science, as well as among the most distinguished
of England's adopted citizens,
Morning Post.
It is interesting to compare a life like that of Sir William Siemens
with those of equally great and earnest workers in other fields of
labour. There probably are people who would give Darwin a
higher rank as a scientific investigator and inventor than they
would accord to Siemens. Yet there cannot be much doubt
сс
386
[CHAP. IX.
"ANERKENNUNG.”
which of the two conferred the most substantial benefits on the
world. All Sir William Siemens's discoveries had the direct and
immediate effect of stimulating the national industry in one
department or another, and thus making the country stronger and
richer.
Pall Mall Gazette.
A veteran in the great war against waste, which is one of the
most distinctive marks of modern civilisation, passed away when
Sir William Siemens met his sudden and untimely end.
Globe.
The premature death of Sir William Siemens calls attention to
a career that may be safely called unique in the annals of science.
Saturday Review.
There is a legitimate reason for satisfaction at the practical
absorption into English life of such a man as Sir William Siemens.
We do not know whether he would have called himself an
Englishman or a German; it is certain that few Englishmen
thought of him as the latter. Nations less liberal in the theory,
or less successful in the practice of adopting foreigners, some-
times reproach us with our hybridity, which, in truth, is a silly
reproach. When a country has such an absence of national life or
character that it is obliged to import its great men, it is in a bad
way enough. But when it has such an abundance of character
and of life that it attracts men of genius and capacity and absorbs
them, it is certainly not in a bad way at all. Hardly any country
has such a faculty of absorption of this kind as England, and in
none perhaps is the process more thorough.
In Sir William Siemens's addresses and speeches, which were
not few, there was a welcome lack of the aggressive and arrogant
tone sometimes charged, and not always unjustly, against men
eminent in the more practical branches of physical science. This
was—it may be in part, at least- owing to the thorough education
which it has been said he had received.
CHAP. IX.]
387
PRESS NOTICES.
Spectator.
The work of Sir William Siemens deserves notice, not only
because of the interest which attaches to great achievements, but
also because his career bears witness at every step to the practical
value of scientific generalisations.
Engineering.
A great man has passed away from us with startling suddenness;
a great man in the sense in which Watt and Faraday were great;
a man who has left an indelible impress upon the science and
industry of his age and of the future.
Although not actually the inventor of a new industry like
Bessemer, or the discoverer of some all-important law of nature
like Faraday, the extensive application of his furnace and pro-
cesses must give him high rank amongst engineers.
If he has passed away prematurely, he died with honours thick
upon him; at least, he had not to wait for tardy recognition of
those grand abilities and that indomitable perseverance which
long since placed him in the van of the profession.
The Engineer.
His remarkable ability had made him a leader of thought and
progress in so many branches of science, and of science applied in
arts and manufactures, that his name is familiar to people in every
walk of life, and every one will experience the feeling that a
great and unexpected loss has taken place in the ranks of the
modern leaders of men and makers of great industries. Science
loses by his death one of its most remarkable thinkers. In him
was found that most unusual combination, originality guided by
accurate and diverse knowledge, and backed by executive ability
and untiring energy.
Nature.
The death of Sir Wm. Siemens, coming as it did so suddenly
and unexpectedly, has been felt as a severe blow and grief through
a far wider circle than that of his personal friends. His work for
CC 2
388
[CHAP. IX.
"ANERKENNUNG.”
the last five or six years has interested the general public in a degree
that has perhaps never before been the lot of any man devoted to
science as he has been. Not only the people of his adopted
country, England, but the larger public of the whole civilized
world have been deeply interested in his works and inventions, in
which they have recognized him as an originator and devoted
worker and a friend. His death is mourned as an irreparable loss,
and the thought that advances in so many lines of beneficent
progress, carried on by his untiring activity and his splendid
zeal, are so suddenly stopped, has caused most grievous dis-
appointment.
William Siemens had the great characteristic common to all men
who have left their marks on the world, the perfervidum ingenium,
in which thought leads to instant action.
Electrician.
He was the representative, probably the ablest representative, of
what may be called the modern school of scientists, who strive to
unite the practical and the theoretical sides of science into one
consistent whole. In his own person he was eminently fitted to
represent this union.
Several of the Societies he belonged to published, in their
transactions, special obituary notices of him, each giving
usually an epitome of his career, and having special rela-
tion to his connexion with the particular society. Among
them may be particularized those of the Royal Society,
communicated by Sir William Thomson; of the Institution
of Civil Engineers, written by the Honorary Secretary, and
of the Society of Telegraph Engineers, by Mr. Munro.
The life, works, and character of Sir William Siemens
have also been dwelt upon in many lectures and addresses,
both in England and abroad. Some of these have been
published, and a few may be noticed here.
A formal éloge was delivered before the French “ Société
CHAP. IX]
389
ADDRESSES. “
d'Encouragement pour l'industrie Nationale," by M. Mar-
cart, and is published in their proceedings. It commenced
thus:
Sir W. Siemens, que la Société d'Encouragement comptait parmi
ses correspondants, est un des hommes qui ont le plus contribué
aux recents progrès de l'Industrie. Ses nombreux inventions, qui
ont, en général, pour caractère d'être la traduction pratique des
principes les plus délicats de la science, lui donnaient une au-
torité légitime, et l'opinion publique, en Angleterre, ne crut pas
exagérer l'estime qu'elle avait pour lui en plaçant son nom à côté
de ceux d'hommes de génie tels que Watt et Faraday.
At the meeting of the British Association in Montreal,
September, 1884, Lord Rayleigh, the President, in his
opening address, said:-
Now, again, a well-known form is missing. For many years
Sir W. Siemens has been a regular attendant at our meetings, and
to few, indeed, have they been more indebted for success. Whatever
the occasion, in his Presidential address of two years ago, or in
communications to the Physical and Mechanical Sections, he had
always new and interesting ideas, put forward in language which
a child could understand, so great a master was he of the art of
lucid statement in his adopted tongue. Practice with science
was his motto. Deeply engaged in industry, and conversant all
his life with engineering occupations, his opinion was never that
of a mere theorist. On the other hand, he abhorred rule of
thumb, striving always to master scientific principles which underlie
rational design and invention.
It is no exaggeration to say that the life of such a man as
Siemens is spent in the public service; the advantages which he
reaps for himself being as nothing in comparison with those which
he confers upon the community at large.
The President, also, of the Mechanical Section, Sir
Frederick Bramwell, alluded feelingly to the loss the
Association had sustained. He said:-
I had, indeed, thought of making his work the subject of my
390
[CHAP. IX.
“ANERKENNUNG.”
address; but I felt that his loss was so recent that I could not trust
myself to attempt it. There is no need for me to dwell further upon
this most painful topic. He was known to you all, he was honoured
and loved by you all, and by every member of the Association
he had so faithfully served, and over which he had so ably
presided.
On the Sunday after his death, the Rev. J. E. Manning,
M.A., preached a sermon at Swansea in honour of his
memory, the audience being largely composed of persons
connected with Landore. This came singularly apropos a
week or two after a public speaker at the other end of
the kingdom had been charging Sir William with making
himself unpopular at Swansea by insisting unnecessarily
on Sunday labour !
At the beginning of 1884 the Verein zur Beförderung des
Gewerbfleisses, in Berlin, to which Sir William had for some
years belonged, published in their Quarto Proceedings a
lecture given to the Society by Professor H. Wedding. It
began as follows:-
On the 19th November we lost our Honorary Member, whom
we Germans have called Herr Wilhelm Siemens, and the English
Sir William Siemens. This double popular name expresses the
salient character of this man, who united the German scientific
learning with the British practical activity in such happy wise,
that both nations were equally proud of him. And looking to the
statements of his merits which have been given by the most dis-
tinguished men on both shores of the German Ocean, we may
imagine only a single regret to be felt reciprocally by both nations;
the Germans lament that such a man did not devote his whole life
to his fatherland; the English, on the other hand, regret that he
was not a Briton born..
On the 22nd February, 1884, a lecture in German, on
"Sir William Siemens als Erfinder und Forscher" (as
inventor and investigator), was given by Dr. Eugen Obach,
CHAP. IX.]
391
LECTURES.
to the "German Athenæum," a society of Germans in
London, of which Sir William had long been a member.
He had always a particular regard for it; had often
attended its meetings, and given them addresses; and
they took a prominent part in his funeral. Dr. Obach's
lecture was much admired by the members, and was pub-
lished at their request.
(C
On the 18th January, 1885, one of the lectures of the
Sunday Lecture Society" was given at St. George's Hall,
Langham Place, by Mr. William Lant Carpenter, B.A. It
was on "The Life and Work of Sir William Siemens."
Mr. Carpenter had been an intimate friend of Sir William
for many years, and had established a School of Electrical
Engineering, in Hanover Square; he was, therefore, in a
position to estimate Sir William's life and work at their
proper value.
After giving an excellent illustrated description of his
chief works and principal inventions, the lecturer quoted, at
some length, opinions and statements he had collected from
various sources, illustrating his personal character. One or
two extracts from the lecture may be given.
Of his character as a man of business let Messrs. Chance speak,
as one testimony out of many. "Our firm having been the first
to carry out in England on a large scale the Siemens regenerative
process, we were brought into close and frequent communication
with him, and had the opportunity of appreciating not only his
extraordinary inventive powers, but also his thorough straightfor-
wardness and integrity of character."
The German Athenæum wrote :-" If the world of science has
lost one of its brightest stars, the poor, the striving student, as well
as the struggling artist, have lost a liberal benefactor and a
patron."
A noble, beautiful, and gifted spirit has passed to the higher
and fuller life, and with us is left an influence for good which
cannot die. Just as this generation is now profiting by the solar
392
[CHAP. IX.
“ ANERKENNUNG.”
radiation which fell on the earth countless ages ago, so will the
labours of Charles William Siemens form a store of knowledge,
potential with respect to this and succeeding generations, and
destined to confer advantages, greater than we can now estimate,
on the ever-advancing cause of science, and on the moral, intel-
lectual, and material progress of humanity!*
And, speaking of lectures and addresses, it is worth
mentioning that a German periodical of considerable note,
the Patent Anwalt of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, published a
proposition that in all high schools throughout Germany,
during the course of half a year, lectures should be given
on Sir William Siemens's Life and Work, as an incentive to
young students to follow in his steps.
SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS.
The above notices will suffice to show the estimation in
which Sir William Siemens was held by the scientific world,
by his professional brethren, and by the public at large.
It only remains now to add a few words as to traits in
his character more definitely observed by those who knew
him intimately.
As a man of science his high position was admitted on
all hands. Without any affectation of abstruse learning,
he had a thorough knowledge of the theoretical principles
of the natural sciences with which he had to do, and he
was thus able to deal with them in practice, not empirically
or tentatively, but on a firm basis of sound logical reason-
ing, which guided him unerringly in their applications. He
was mathematician enough to work out the many difficult
* This lecture is published in the Gentleman's Magazine of March,
1885.
CHAP. IX.] SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS.
393
problems required in his work, and in physics and chemistry
he was an acknowledged master.
The Royal Society obituary notice says:-" His work in
the domain of pure science has been neither slight nor
unimportant, because, in experimentally developing his
inventions, his mind was ever on the alert; and hence his
efforts towards the practical application of the results of
science, in many cases, served to put these results in a
clearer light."
As an engineer, it is enough to say that if the province
of the engineer is "to apply the great powers in nature to
the use and convenience of man," there have been very few
men in the profession who could show a higher claim to
the title. He was probably one of the best and most
accomplished mechanics that ever lived; and when any
important engineering task of unusual nature or magnitude
was presented to him, such, for example, as the design of
the "Faraday,” his thorough knowledge of the principles
of construction and the properties of materials, combined
with his ready inventive power, made its solution easy to
him. It is impossible to read his mechanical essays, or his
multifarious remarks on all sorts of subjects, at the meet-
ings of the engineering societies he attended, without
admiration of his remarkable ability in the profession he
had attached himself to.
Of his character as an inventor much has already been
said, but the inventions which have been described or
alluded to in this memoir have necessarily only been those
of the most saiient character and of the greatest importance
in their results; they form only a small portion of the
immense inventive labour of his life. He was one of the
most prolific and versatile originators of novel combinations
394
[CHAP. IX.
“ANERKENNUNG.”
that the mechanical world has ever known, as is proved
by the number of inventions patented in England to
which his name is attached. Many of these are taken
out jointly by himself and some of his brothers, but it
may be fairly assumed that his own part in most of
them was real and important. The patents are 113 in
number, and they range over an enormous field of subjects,
including steam engines, hot-air engines, gas-engines, water
engines, cooling and freezing, evaporation and distillation,
river engineering, the iron and steel manufacture and other
branches of metallurgy, gunnery, measuring apparatus,
pneumatic tubes, glass making, armour plating, tele-
graphs, electric lighting, electric power, and electric ap-
paratus generally in great variety, gas lighting, railway
appurtenances, explosive compounds, and other miscel-
laneous matters. But even this list, lengthy as it is, is far
from being a complete register of his inventions, seeing
that there were great numbers of minor novelties con-
tinually springing from his fertile brain, which were either
merged in the processes of manufacture, or were described
to the world without protection, or indeed may have had
only an ephemeral object, and have been forgotten alto-
gether. And in order to judge of the full weight of the
long list, it must be recollected that his patents were not,
as is so often the case, the crude ideas of an uneducated
schemer, but that, although many of the inventions have
not been carried out, the known capability of the inventor
is a pretty good guarantee for their being sound in principle
and feasible in practice. In addition to this list he had
many more inventions in prospect, on some of which he was
actually experimenting in his last days.
As a man of business his character was exemplary,
nothing was neglected that he had to do, nothing post-
CHAP. IX.] SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS.
395
poned that could be done promptly. His habits of work
have been thus described by one who was in daily com-
munication with him :-
"What a labourer he was a glance at his daily occupations will
show. His secretary was with him at nine o'clock nearly every
working day of the year; there was work for one society or
another to be done, proofs of the abstracts of the Institution of
Civil Engineers to be examined, letters and opinions on scientific
subjects to be dictated, frequently also specifications of new in-
ventions already schemed out. Then followed the walk across
the Parks, almost at racing speed, to Westminster; the business
of the Landore Siemens Steel Company, of Messrs. Siemens
Brothers and Co. (of both which large undertakings he was chair-
man), the work in connexion with the furnaces and metallurgical
operations of which he was the inventor; visitors and enquirers to
be seen, and in the afternoon attendance at council meetings of
the learned societies, or directors' meetings of various companies.
The evenings, again, were spent at one or other of the learned
societies. This gives a faint idea only of the way Sir William
Siemens passed his weeks and months and years. When a man
has to address himself within the space of an hour to subjects so
different as those for instance of telegraphy and metallurgy in
their scientific aspects; when he has to consider workmen and
wages one moment, licenses and specifications of inventions the
next; when, as was constantly the case, half-a-dozen people were
waiting at the same time to see him, each thinking his own busi-
ness the most important, and to each of whom Sir William gave
his attention, the wonder is that he has been able to work so
long."
His business position, combining with the legitimate
profession of a civil engineer the occupations of a manu-
facturer and contractor on a very large scale, was some-
what unusual, but the way in which this came about has
been already alluded to. He saw with great acuteness at
an early period of his life that, in a line of practice com-
paratively new, and likely to have a very large extension,
396
[CHAP. IX.
“ANERKENNUNG."
his devotion to manufacture would open a much wider and
more lucrative field for his powers than mere designing
and, supported in this view by his brothers, he embarked
in it accordingly. And again, at a later period, when
engaged in the study and perfecting of his great heating
and metallurgical inventions, he found it would be out of
the question to attempt to get the necessary preliminary
trials, on a large and expensive scale, carried out in the
trade; indeed, apart from the risk which deterred the
manufacturers, he experienced a determined opposition by
the uneducated and prejudiced workmen which alone would
have crushed a less energetic and persevering man. And he
accordingly embarked, for the sake of these metallurgical
inventions, in the actual extensive manufactures they re-
ferred to. These undertakings were not free from the
risks which so often attend large commercial speculations
in a new field, and in some instances they caused much
anxiety, and not a little pecuniary sacrifice, to himself and
his friends. But his energy and perseverance carried him
through all difficulties, and in his later years it may be said
that everything he did was successful in all points of view.
He had the discrimination to surround himself in his busi-
ness transactions with able coadjutors and assistants, whose
aid he was always glad to acknowledge.
It is nothing against him to say that in his strictly
business transactions he usually kept his own pecuniary
interests well in view. In his very earliest negociations, we
find him in Hamburg, calling himself a "simpleton that
he did not get eight louis more," and in Birmingham
asking Mr. Elkington in the first instance “much too high
a price." A couple of years afterwards, he valued his two
nearly abortive inventions at the modest sum of £86,000.
These were youthful fancies; but the same spirit,
sobered down, animated him through all his business life.
CHAP. IX.] SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS.
397
In 1873, he alluded pointedly (see page 400) to his efforts
in the pursuit of his own interests, and it was well known
to all his clients, that, when his services were required in
a professional or commercial way, he did not hesitate to
put a sufficient money value upon them. If, as some-
times happened, the price he asked could not be paid, he
preferred to do the work gratuitously, rather than accept
what he considered insufficient remuneration.
The amount at which his will was proved may perhaps.
be considered some evidence of this trait of character;
but the figure there given does not represent nearly the
money he earned, seeing the heavy losses that at different
times he had to sustain, the liberal gifts he made, and the
large sums that he spent in other ways. It was said by
one of his friends, that he had made three fortunes; of
which he lost one, spent one, and kept one.
But his desire to become rich must always be associated
with the considerations that he gained his wealth grace-
fully, and that he put it to honourable and creditable uses.
No instance has come to the knowledge of the writer of
this biography where any charge has been brought against
him of illiberality in his business dealings. He insisted
that his clients should pay him properly, but he also took
care that they should get full value for their money.
Then when we come to inquire what he did with his
wealth, we find everything to his credit. He valued it, not
for itself, for he had no inclination to hoard it; not as a
means of vain display, for he had acquired fame enough
in other ways; but he valued it for what it would usefully
do. It would enable him to cultivate freely his tastes for
scientific investigation; to gratify his natural instincts of
generosity and liberality; to do something for art; and
to enjoy the refined social and domestic pleasures con-
genial to his habits, his tastes, and his education.
398
[CHAP. IX.
“ ANERKENNUNG.”
In regard to one of these uses of money, namely,
generosity and liberality, it is difficult to say here all
that might be said without an appearance of laudatory
exaggeration. During his whole life he was proverbially
generous to those who had any sort of claim to his aid;
and in his later years, he extended his liberality to a much
wider range. Not only personal gifts, but subscriptions
almost without end, to charitable objects, as well as
large prizes and presents to Educational and other
Institutions, figured in the columns of his cash account.
He was once appealed to to join in a guarantee fund,
to purchase a very large amount of valuable specimens for
the Government museums, which would otherwise have
been lost, taking the risk of being repaid by the Treasury
at a future time. He at once put his name down for
£1000, and took the position of "Provisional Manager
in the transaction. His offer of £10,000 towards a "Hall
of Applied Science" has already been mentioned.
"
He gave his residences the air of comfort and even
luxury, but it was not the luxury of mere ostentation. He
decorated his houses with the best taste, and he filled
his rooms and his corridors with pictures, sculpture, and
other beautiful works of art, mostly commissioned from
well-known artists whom he numbered among his friends.
His entertainments, too, though sometimes magnificent, had
always the laudable object of bringing together those whose
presence would make the banquet a "feast of reason," and
not a mere animal gratification.
He had one qualification which is not very common
among hard mechanical workers, i.e., considerable literary
power, of which he took full advantage. It was not his
wish or his habit to confine to himself the knowledge he
had gained; he was ever ready and anxious to communi-
CHAP. IX.] SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS.
399
cate it to the world. He was an admirably clear writer,
and, although a foreigner born, he acquired a knowledge of
English, and an ability of using it, very remarkable, as is
shown by the many excellent papers he contributed to the
scientific societies in this country, and the many other able
documents that came from his pen. He was also a good
lecturer, and his command of English was almost as perfect
in speaking as in writing. The author of this memoir has
frequently had occasion to notice, when hearing him speak
without any preparation, that, although he had not alto-
gether what might be called a fluent delivery, his choice of
words and mode of expression were such as could hardly
be improved. He would sometimes hesitate a moment, as
if at a loss for a word, but the word he chose was always
the right one.
Many of his speeches and addresses have not been.
preserved.
It is seldom that one can get, for the biography of a
practical man, a clear statement of his own estimate of
his character and powers; and it is still less often that
such an estimate may be looked upon as true and trust-
worthy. It happened, however, that in 1873 he was asked,
as were many other eminent men, by Mr. Francis Galton,
so well known for his scientific statistical researches, to give
such a statement, and by the kind permission of Mr. Galton,
(which he gave subject to the sanction of Lady Siemens),
it may be reproduced here. Dr. Siemens's description of
himself was as follows:-
Height, 5 ft. 10½ in. Ordinary figure. Red hair. Fair com-
plexion.
Has actively pursued Physical Science in addition to his pro-
fession.
Religion liberal Protestantism.
:
400
[CHAP. IX.
"ANERKENNUNG.”
Politics Liberal.
:
Good constitution.
Active habit; restless disposition; easily fatigued, but perse-
vering and naturally adventurous.
Quick-minded and capable of sustained efforts in the pursuit of
his interests.
Bad memory for names and dates, but moderately good as
regards facts or circumstances. Principles in physical science are
clearly retained.
Not naturally studious, but receptive and imaginative.
Independent in judgment in social, religious, and political
matters.
Naturally diffident, but sanguine and determined to accomplish
objects of importance. Passionate but soft-hearted.
His special talents, he considers, are for mechanisms and phy-
sical principles. Facility to conclude amicable arrangements in
business, and to carry them through in a conciliatory spirit.*
His strongly marked peculiarities he describes as irresistible
desire to realise objects in applied science when once conceived,
which objects have sometimes been pitched too high, and have
led to fruitless expenditure of means and energy, although the
principles have been proved. Attained considerable success in
other cases.
Domestic habits, with love of the new, but not of the marvellous.
This description will probably be cordially endorsed by
his most intimate friends; and it certainly was fully cor-
roborated by the outward and visible signs appreciable by
the world.
The letter accompanying the statement gives one or two
indications of character not alluded to therein.
I should not be acting according to my natural character if I
had prepared the enclosed returns for you one day sooner than
* This remark, considering its date, must probably have been
suggested by his great success with the difficult and complicated
Indo-European telegraph negotiations.
CHAP. IX.]
401
SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS.
absolutely necessary to avoid your displeasure. Few people know
themselves, so I do not pretend to have drawn a correct picture of
myself; but at any rate I have answered the questions to the best
of my conviction.
At a subsequent date Mr. Galton put some further ques-
tions to him as to his power of "visualizing," that is, of
calling up, in his mind, pictures of objects or scenes which
he had had to do with, or which he was otherwise earnestly
cogitating upon. Mr. Galton says:-
He told me that he visualized with clear definition of Form,
and in Colour, and that he had no difficulty in mentally perceiving
the successive phases of motion in complicated machinery. Also
that in thinking out a machine, he did it best while walking;
better than when sitting at a table with a pen in his hand.
Comparing what he told me with what others had said or
written, I classed his visualizing power as exceptionally high.
His characteristic of intensity in whatever he did was
remarkable. Even in his relaxations he entered into them
with his whole heart; indeed, it did one good to hear his
ringing laugh when witnessing some amusing play, the
face lit up with well-nigh child-like pleasure; and there
was no trace of the weariness which perhaps, an hour
before, had been so visible after a long day of work of
such varied kinds, all demanding his most serious atten-
tion.
As a travelling companion he was indeed the light and
happiness of those who had the privilege to be with him.
Everything that could lessen fatigue or add to the enjoy-
ment and interest of the journey was thought of and
tenderly carried out; and the knowledge of the pleasure
he was giving was his best reward.
Young people and children clustered round him, and he
spared no trouble to answer simply and clearly any ques-
tions they asked him.
D D
402
[CHAP. IX
“ ANERKENNUNG.”
Of his general character in private life, so far as it was
observable by those outside his family, nothing can be said
but unqualified praise. The impression produced on those
who knew him personally cannot be better expressed than
in the words of one of his dearest friends. "In private life
Sir William Siemens, with his lively, bright intelligence
always present, and eager to give pleasure and benefit to
those around him, was a most loveable man, singularly un-
selfish and full of kind thought and care for others. The
writer has for nearly a quarter of a century had the happi-
ness of personal friendship with him. The occasions of
meeting him are among the happiest of recollections. The
thought that they can now live only in memory is too full
of grief to find expression in words."
CAMPA
INDEX.
ADAMSON.
ADAMSON, Joseph, makes improve-
ments in water-meters, 107.
Agassiz, Professor, on Dr. Siemens's
deep-sea electrical thermometer,
331, 332.
Air pumps, 66.
Airy, Sir G. B., on Sir William Sie-
mens's studies in solar energy, 326,
327.
Albert Hall, electric light at, 247,
314.
Algerian Cable, the, 164-168.
Alma, steamship, wreck of with
Werner Siemens, Mr. Newall, and
others, 118.
Ambassador, the, assists in laying
Direct Atlantic Cable, 209; com-
pletes laying of Brazilian Cable,
221.
Anastatic printing, 54-58; invented
by Mr. Baldamus, of Erfurt, 55;
introduced into England by
William Siemens, 56, 57; its
abandonment, 57, 58.
Antenor, the, brings survivors from
wreck of La Plata to London, 214.
Appel, Mr., assists William Siemens
in the anastatic printing process,
57, 58.
Arago, discoveries by, in electro-mag-
netism, 225.
Arc lights, 243.
Athenæum Club, Dr. Siemens elected
member of under special rule, 270,
271.
Austral steamship, electric light on,
298, 299.
BAKER, General Sir W., and the Indo-
European Telegraph, 202.
Baldamus, Mr., of Erfurt, inventor of
anastatic printing, 55-58.
BRAZILIAN.
Balguy, Mr., inquiry by into wreck
of La Plata, 218, 219.
Barnaby, Sir Nathaniel, C. B., on
steel for the Navy, 193, 194, 195.
Barral, J.A., on Dr. Siemens's appli-
cation of electricity to horticulture,
319, 320.
Bathometer and attraction meter, 254,
255.
Bell, Sir Isaac Lowthian, Bart., on
Dr. Siemens's researches in metal-
lurgy, 199, 200.
Benson, Dr. Edward, Archbishop of
Canterbury, correspondence of with
Dr. Siemens, 336, 337.
Berlin, electric railways at, 300–302.
Bessemer, Sir Henry, awarded
Howard prize by Institution of
Civil Engineers, 339; Freedom of
Turners' Company, 352-353.
Birmingham, William Siemens at, 72;
Sample Steel Works at, 147-148,
196-198; the Midland Institute,
342-344.
Black Sea, submarine cable in, 174-
176; cable destroyed by earthquake,
203.
Bonchurch, William Siemens's illness
at, 184.
Bradley, Dean of Westminster, refuses
Sir William Siemens's burial in the
Abbey, 366; but grants funeral
service, 367; and memorial window,
373 et seq.
Bramwell, Sir Frederick, at opening
of Portrush electric railway, 306;
pronounces eulogy on Sir William
Siemens, 374-377; at British As-
sociation meeting, 389–390.
Brazil, Emperor of, confers honours
on Dr. Siemens, 222; visits at his
house, 281.
Brazilian cable, the, 210-222.
404
INDEX.
BRETT.
Brett, Jacob, projects telegraphic com-
munication with France, 114-115.
British Museum, electric light at,
295-296.
British Association, Dr. Siemens's
relations with, 261; eulogies on
Sir William Siemens at meeting of,
389, 390.
Brunlees, James, petitions the Dean
for Sir William Siemens's burial in
Westminster Abbey, 365.
Budd, J. W., one of Sir William
Siemens's executors, 379.
CAMPDEN HILL, residence of William
Siemens at, 182.
Carpenter, Dr. W. D., on Dr. Sie-
mens's solar speculations, 325.
Carpenter, William Lamb, B. A.,
lecture by, on Sir William Siemens,
391, 392.
Chance, Messrs., adopt the regene-
rative furnace, 134.
Charing Cross, proposed electric rail-
way at, 307, 308.
Charlton, Siemens Brothers' electrical
manufacturing works at, 162 et
seq.; Carl takes personal direction
of, 200; dynamo machines made
at, 245; converted into limited
liability company, 294, 295.
Chauvin, G. von, manager and elec-
trician to Direct United States
Telegraph Company, 206.
Chemical Society, the, Dr. Siemens's
relations with, 269.
Chesney, Colonel, and the Indian
Engineering College, 329, 330.
Children, Mr., experiments by, in elec-
tricity, 224, 225.
Chronometric governor, the, 51-54;
awarded prize medal by Society of
Arts, 54; application of at Green-
wich Observatory, III; and in
various prisons, 157.
City and Guilds of London Institute,
Dr. Siemens's address at, 347, 348.
Clarke, experiments by, in magneto-
electricity, 230.
Clarkson, Thomas, commands boat
of survivors from wreck of La
Plata, 213, 214.
Cochery, M., confers Legion of
Honour on Dr. Siemens, 341, 342.
Coventry, Dr. Siemens lectures on
"Waste" at, 347.
ENGINEER.
Cowper, Edward, shows friendship to
William Siemens, 71, 72; applies
his regenerative furnace to hot-
blast iron smelting, 103.
Cox, S. H. F., paper by on the re-
generative furnace, 138.
Craigdhu, Dr. Siemens's Highland
villa, 275.
Crampton, Thomas, lays first success-
ful submarine cable between Eng-
land and France, 116.
Crome, Dr. Carl, married to Sophie
Siemens, 15.
DACIA, the, assists in laying Direct
Atlantic Cable, 209.
Davy, experiments of in electric
lighting, 225, 242, 243.
Deep-sea photometer, 255, 256.
Deichmann, Eleonore, mother of Sir
William Siemens, 8; letter to
Werner concerning William, 19;
death of, 22, 23.
Deichmann, G. E., relations with
William Siemens, 29, 30.
Dicks, Mr., lost in wreck of La Plata,
212, 213.
Direct United States Telegraph Com-
pany, 206 et seq.
Dix Décembre, employed in laying
Algerian cable, 165.
Dolomite country, the, Dr. Siemens's
visit to, 276.
Dorp, Captain J. van, of the Wilhelm
Blenkelszoon, 216, 217.
Dowson Economic Gas Company,
award to, 290.
Dudden, Captain J. H., lost in wreck
of La Plata, 211 et seq.
Dungeness, electric light at, 232, 245.
Dynamo-electric machine, the, 240.
ELECTRIC pyrometer, the, 252-254.
Electrical thermometer, the, 331, 332.
Elkington, Messrs., their process of
electro-plating, 38, 44-48; manu-
facture the Howard award for Sir
William Siemens, 339.
Engineer, etymology of, 2; definition
of an, 3-5.
Engineer, the, describes Landore
steel works, 195; gives obituary
notice of Sir William Siemens, 387.
INDEX.
405
ENGINEERING.
Engineering, obituary notice of Sir
William Siemens in, 387.
FALKIRK Iron Company, gas kit-
cheners of, 289, 290.
Faraday, Professor, on anastatic print-
ing, 56; on the regenerative fur-
nace, 134-136; investigations by,
in magneto-electricity, 225 et seq.
Faraday, the, constructed to lay
Direct Atlantic cable, 207-210;
lays French Atlantic cable, 222,
223; makes trial of the bathometer,
255; paper on, 266.
Firebrand, H.M.S., makes trial of
the bathometer, 254.
Fox & Henderson, Messrs., employ
William Siemens, 70-72, 80;
manufacture regenerative engine
and condenser, 76, 78; and
evaporator, 79, 80, 96, 97; tele-
graphic contracts of, 86.
Frankland, Dr. E., moves Dr. Sie-
mens's election to Athenæum Club,
271.
Frederick III., Emperor, ennobles
Werner Siemens, 12.
GALTON, Francis, 8; characteristics
of Sir William Siemens, 399-401.
Gare Loch, the, rescues survivors from
wreck of La Plata, 214.
Gas fireplace, the, 285-289.
Gas-producer, the, 131 et seq.
Genoa, company formed at to con-
struct regenerative steam engine,
92 et seq.; its failure, 95.
Georgia, Indo-European telegraph
through destroyed by earthquake,
203.
Germany, Empress of, receives Dr.
Siemens, 285; sends message of
condolence to Werner on Sir
William's death, 363.
Gladstone, W. E., proposes Dr. Sie-
mens for Knighthood, 353.
Glasgow Science Lectures Associa-
tion, Dr. Siemens's address to on
gas as a heating agent, 293.
Godalming, electric light at, 298.
Goldsmiths' Company, Dr. Siemens
presented with Freedom and Livery
of, 350, 351.
Gomos, the, employed in laying the
HENDERSON.
Brazilian cable, 210; wreck of,
2II.
Gordon, Donald, managing director
of Landore Siemens Steel Com-
pany, 154.
Gordon, Joseph, accompanies Dr.
Siemens to America,
to America, 280; his
executor, 379.
Gordon, Anne, is married to William
Siemens, 123, 124; accompanies
him at laying of Algerian cable,
165; and Indo-European telegraph,
176; ill at Poti, 177; accompanies
him in trip to Germany, 181; to
Italy, 184, 282; nurses him at Bon-
church, 184; accompanies him to
Switzerland, 185; ill of scarlet
fever, 272, 273; trip to the Enga-
dine, 274, 275; to Rome, 275; to
America, 280; to Vienna, 333; to
Canncs for health, 350; her
mother's death, 351; visit to Scot-
land, 352; death of her husband,
361; messages of condolence, 364,
379 et seq.; from the Prince of
Wales, 382.
Gordon, Lewis D. B., relations with
William Siemens, 122, 123; death
of, 280.
Göttingen, William Siemens's studies
at, 28 et seq.
Gramme, M., dynamo-electric ma-
chines of, 242, 246.
Great Eastern, the, 207.
Guest & Chrimes, construction of
water-meters by, 106, 107.
HAAG, Mrs., and Dr. Siemens, 343.
Hall of Applied Sciences, the, Dr.
Siemens's relations with, 266, 267.
Halske, Mr., partnership with
Werner Siemens, 10, 11; in tele-
graphic business, 81 et seq., 117;
connection with London firm
ceases, 162.
Hawes, William, William Siemens's
residence with, 120, 121.
Heath, method of producing steel,
142, 146.
Hebeler, Mr., assists William Sie-
mens, 59.
Hefner-Alteneck, Friedrich von, im-
provements by in dynamo-electric
machines, 241.
Henderson, Mr., of Glasgow, furnace
designed for by Mr. Siemens, 197.
406
INDEX.
HICK.
Hick, John, constructs an improved
steam engine, 69; and regenerative
engine, 91.
Himly, Professor, assists Werner
Siemens in laying first submarine
mines, II; is married to Mathilde
Siemens, 15; Professor of Che-
mistry at Göttingen, 26, 27, 28;
assists Werner in electro-gilding
and silvering, 35, 38, 44.
Holmes, Professor, and the produc-
tion of light by magneto-electricity,
231 et seq.; illumination of light-
houses by dynamo-electric machine,
241.
Hooker, Sir Joseph, and vegetation
under electric light, 314-316.
Hooper, the, telegraph ship, 207.
Hooper, quartermaster of La Plata,
story of his rescue, 215-217.
Hopkinson, Dr. Edward, conducts
experiments on Portrush electric
railway, 303.
Hoyle & Sons, Manchester, employ
William Siemens at their print
works, 67.
INCANDESCENT lamp, 243.
Indo-European Telegraph Company,
the, 173 et seq.
Institution of Civil Engineers, define
an engineer's work, 3-5; give
favourable reception to chrono-
metric governor, 53; elect William
Siemens a Member, 128, 129; on
the Council, 261; he lectures to
them on "Electric Transmission
and Storage of Power," 309-311;
is awarded Howard prize, 338, 339;
their recognition of his services, 365
et seq., 371 et seq., 379, 388.
Institution of Mechanical Engineers,
Dr. Siemens's relations with, 262.
Iris, despatch-vessel, built of Siemens
steel, 194, 195.
•
Iron and Steel Institute, Dr. Sie-
mens's relations with, 262-265.
KENSAL GREEN, Sir William Sie-
mens buried in, 370, 371.
Kiel, first submarine mines laid at,
II; first submarine cable laid at,
114.
King, David, drowned in wreck of
La Plata, 220, 221.
MENZENDORF.
King's College, Dr. Siemens founds
prize at, 344, 345.
Klopfer, J. D., Hamburg, adopts the
Siemens electro-gilding process, 40.
LAMONT, boatswain of La Plata,
story of his rescue, 215-217.
Landore Siemens Steel Company,
154; extension of works, 191;
supply steel for Royal Navy, 194;
financial difficulties, 195; the out-
put of steel, 196; experiments at
in making steel from the ore, 197;
congratulations and present to Dr.
Siemens on being knighted, 354.
La Plata, the, despatched to lay
Brazilian cable, 211; wrecked in
Bay of Biscay, 212; rescue of the
survivors, 213-217; inquiry by
Board of Trade, 218, 219; aid to
the sufferers, 220, 221.
Lead pipes, joining by pressure, III.
Lenthe, early home of William's
parents, 7, 9; birthplace of Wil-
liam, 17.
Lizard, the, Messrs. Siemens's electric
apparatus at, 247
Lloyd & Summerfield, Messrs., first
regenerative furnace erected
works of, 133.
at
Loeffler, L., connection of with the
Charlton works, 163; superintends
laying of French Atlantic cable,
223; director of limited liability
company, 295.
Lons-le-Saulnier, France, regenera-
tive evaporator at, 97.
Lübeck, William Siemens at school
at, 19.
MAGDEBURG, William Siemens at
Gewerbe-Schule of, 21, 27; in engi-
neering works at, 30 et seq.
Manchester, William Siemens at, 67.
Manning, Rev. J. G., funeral sermon
by, on Sir William Siemens, 390.
Martin, Messrs. Pierre and Emíle,
adopt the regenerative furnace for
melting and production of steel,
145, 146.
Masters, Dr. Maxwell, and vegetation
under electric light, 314-318.
Menzendorf, home of the Siemens
family, 9 et seq., 19.
INDEX.
407
MERCURY.
Mercury, despatch vessel, built of
Siemens steel, 194, 195.
Merrifield, Mr., reads paper on the
Faraday at Institution of Naval
Architects, 266.
Mittelhausen, Mr., assists in laying
out works at Millbank, 119.
Nature, obituary notice of Sir William
Siemens in, 387.
Naval architects, Institution of, Dr.
Siemens's relations with, 266.
Newall & Co., works of, for construc-
tion of submarine cables, 117;
Messrs. Siemens their consulting
engineers, 117; William's work
with, 118.
Niagara, Falls of, their power, 249
et seq.
Nineteenth Century, article in by
Dr. Siemens explaining his theories
about the Sun, 324.
Nollet, magneto-electric machine of,
230, 231.
OBACH, Dr. Eugen, lectures on Sir
William Siemens, 390, 391.
Oersted, observations of in electro-
magnetism, 225.
PARIS Electric Exhibition, electric
railway at, 302; electric furnace
at, 313.
Penn, John, approves of the chrono-
metric governor, 53.
Pixii, experiments by, in magneto-
electricity, 230.
Pole, William, personal intimacy with
Sir William Siemens, v; his Life
of Sir William Fairbairn, Bart., 2;
defends Mr. Siemens's views at the
Institution of Civil Engineers, 90;
signs his certificate for the Royal
Society, 129; Member of the
Government Iron Armour Com-
mittee, 257; experience with Sir
William Siemens's gas fire-place,
288; elected honorary member
of Turners' Company, 352; his
obituary notice of Sir William
Siemens for the Institution of Civil
Engineers, 388; personal testi-
mony in regard to Sir William's
business character, 397.
SALISBURY.
Portrush, electric railway at, 303-
306, 357.
Poten, Lieutenant von, Colonel Com-
mandant of Göttingen, 27.
Prince of Wales, interest of, in smoke
abatement movement, 290-292; and
in electric furnace, 313; at soirée of
Society of Arts, 337; message of
condolence to Lady Siemens on Sir
William's death, 382.
Punch's "Electric Knight-Light,'
354.
RANSOME, Frederick, manufactures
artificial stone, 60.
Rayleigh, Lord, eulogy by, on Sir Wil-
liam Siemens, 386.
Réaumur, method of producing steel,
142, 146.
Refrigeration, 104.
Regenerative condenser, the, 74 et seq.
Regenerative engine, the, 73 et seq.;
improvements on, 88 et seq.; at
the Exposition Universelle, 91.
Regenerative evaporator, the, 77 et
seq., 96, 97.
Regenerative furnace, the, 97-104;
new developments of, 130 et seq.
Regenerative gas engine, the, 154,
155.
4
Richard, G., on Dr. Siemens's paper
on solar energy, 325.
Ricketts, F. H., has charge of the
La Plata expedition to lay Bra-
zilian cable, 211; lost in the wreck,
217, 218.
Riley, Mr., gives account of steel-
tests at Landore works, 194.
Royal Albert Docks, electric light at,
296.
Royal Institution of Great Britain,
Dr. Siemens's relations with, 269,
328; resolution on his death, 379,
380.
Royal Society, the, Dr. Siemens's
relations with, 260, 321, 327, 388.
Rudolph, Crown Prince of Austria,
at the Vienna Electric Exhibition,
334; message to Lady Siemens on
death of Sir William, 364.
SALISBURY, Marquis of, writes to
William Siemens concerning
honours from Oxford, 273.
408
INDEX.
SATURDAY REVIEW.
Saturday Review, the, on Dr. Sie-
mens's investigations in solar
energy, 328; obituary notice in,
386.
Savoy Theatre, electric light at, 296–
298.
Scalia, Luigi, friend of William Sie-
mens, 121.
Schaffhausen, water-power at, 251.
Schöttler, Herr, manager of Count
Stollberg's engineering works at
Magdeburg, 30, 31, 50.
Schwabe, Mr., introduces William
Siemens's water-meter to Man-
chester, 106.
Shah of Persia, the, confers order of
Lion and Sun on Dr. Siemens, 205,
206.
Shearwater, H.M.S., makes trial of
the deep-sea photometer, 255, 256.
Sherbrooke, Lord, on Dr. Siemens's
solar studies, 324.
Sherwood House, country residence
of Dr. Siemens, 277 et seq.; elec-
tric installation at, 278; foreign
guests at, 281, 282; experiments
at on gas as a heating agent, 294;
on influence of electric light on
vegetation, 316 et seq.; ancient
vase at, 348; death of Mrs.
Gordon at, 351.
Siemens, Lady. See Gordon, Anne.
Siemens, Alexander, conducts experi-
ments at Birmingham in making
steel from the ore, 198; paper by
on electric railways, 299; Sir
William's executor, 379.
Siemens & Halske. See Siemens,
Werner, and Halske, Mr.
Siemens Brothers, firm of at Charlton,
161 et seq.
See William, Werner,
and Carl Siemens.
Siemens, Carl Heinrich, brother of
Sir William, biographical notice of,
14; takes charge of William's Lon-
don office, 89; partner in Siemens
Brothers at Charlton, 162; where
he takes personal direction, 200;
superintends laying of Direct
Atlantic Cable, 208; lives next
door to William in Uxbridge Road,
274; settles in St. Petersburg, 348.
Siemens, Christian Ferdinand, Sir
William's father, biographical
notice of, 7-9; letters to William,
22, 24-26; to Werner, 23, 24;
death of, 26.
SIEMENS.
Siemens, Ernst Werner von, eldest
brother of Sir Williain, biographi-
cal notice of, 9-12; partnership
with Mr. Halske, II; choice of
military career, 19; induces William
to be an engineer, 20; superintends
his education at Magdeburg, 21;
letter from his father, 23; obtains
appointment for William in machine
factory at Magdeburg, 30, 31; the
chronometric governor," 34; elec-
tricity in gilding and silvering, 35,
37; transferred to Berlin, 36:
abandonment of inventions, 63, 64;
telegraphic business, 81 et seq. ; ex-
hibits at Great International Exhi-
bition, 83; introduces gutta-percha
as an insulator for wires, 113; lays
first submarine cable, 114; other
submarine cables, 117 et sq. ; cable
in the Red Sea, 118; where he
suffers shipwreck, 118, 123; con-
gratulates William on his marriage,
124; india-rubber as an insulator,
159; exhibits at Exhibition of 1862,
160; partner in Siemens Brothers
at Charlton, 162; personally assists
in laying Algerian cable, 165;
construction of an armature, 231
et seq.; of magneto-electric ma-
chines, 231, 232, 234; of dy-
namo-electric machines, 240; im-
provements in, 241; applications
of, 242 et seq.; joins William
at Rome, 275, 276; electric rail-
ways, 299-303; at the Vienna
Electric Exhibition, 334; at Sher-
wood, 335, 336; royal sympathy
on Sir William's death, 363, 364;
attends his funeral, 371.
Siemens, Ferdinand, brother of Sir
William, 12, 19.
Siemens, Friedrich, brother of Sir
William, biographical notice of,
12-14; employed at Birmingham,
72; suggests application of regenera-
tive principle to furnaces, 99, 100,
102; its successful introduction,
130 et seq.
Siemens, Hans, brother of Sir Wil-
liam, biographical notice of, 12, 13,
19; death of, at Dresden, 185.
Siemens, Mathilde, eldest sister of
Sir William, married to Professor
Himly, 15, 26; writes to Werner,
26, 27; on William's studies at Göt-
tingen, 31; and proposed visit to
INDEX.
409
SIEMENS.
London, 32; congratulations on his
success, 48; and on his marriage,
125.
Siemens, Otto, brother of Sir Wil-
liam, 14; whom he congratulates
on his marriage, 125.
Siemens, Sophie, youngest sister of
Sir William, married to Dr. Carl
Crome, 15.
Siemens Stift, 16; gathering of in
the Harz, 349.
Siemens, Walter, brother of Sir Wil-
liam, 14; death of, at Tiflis, 185.
Siemens, Sir William, place in en-
gineering, 5; applications of heat
and electricity, 5, 6; parentage,
7-16; birth and name, 17; early
characteristics, 17-19; tuition at
Menzendorf, 19; elects for com-
merce, 19; school at Lübeck, 19;
Werner induces him to be an engineer
20, 21; education at Magdeburg,
21, 27; letters from his father, 22-
26; death of his mother, 22, 23; of
his father, 26; leaves Magdeburg
for Göttingen, 28; his studies
there, 28-30; enters Count Stoll-
berg's engineering machine factory
at Magdeburg, 30 et seq.; proposed
visit to England, 32; correspon-
dence with Werner, 32 et seq.;
invention of new valve-gearing for
single-acting steam-engines, 33;
electro-gilding and silvering, 35-38;
at Hamburg, 40, 41; arrival in
London, 44; transactions with
Messrs. Elkington, 44-47; who
purchase his electric-gilding patents
for £1,600, 47; return to Germany,
48; to the Stollberg factory, 49;
which he finally leaves, 50; second
visit to London, 50; the chrono-
metric governor, 51-54; anastatic
printing, 54-58; difficulties and
troubles, 58 et seq. ; manufacture of
artificial stone, 60; railway work,
62; agreement with Werner to
abandon inventions, 63, 64; air-
pumps, 66; heat and its applications,
67; removal to Manchester, 67;
employment at Hoyle & Sons'
print works, 67; improvements in
the steam engine, 69; engagement
with Messrs. Fox & Henderson,
70-72; thoughts of going to Cali-
fornia, 71; removal to Birmingham,
72; the regenerative engine and
SIEMENS.
condenser, 74-77; regenerative
evaporator, 77-80; electrical work,
80; introduces Siemens and
Halske's telegraphic inventions into
England, 84; where he becomes
their agent, 85, 86; commences
business as civil engineer in London,
87; improvements on the regenera-
tive steam engine, 88 et seq.; which
he exhibits at Paris, 91; company
formed at Genoa for its construc-
tion, 92; failure of engine and dis-
solution of company, 94-96; the
regenerative evaporator, 96, 97; the
regenerative furnace, 97-103; re-
frigeration, 104; invention of the
water-meter, 105; improvements
upon, 107, 108; its success, 109;
the chronometric governor, 110,
III; manufacture of lead pipes,
III; first submarine cables, 114 et
seq.; work with Newall and Co.,
118; establishment of works at
Millbank, 119, 120; bachelor life,
120, 121; friendships, 121; natur-
alization and marriage, 123, 124;
family congratulations, 124, 125;
position and prospects, 126 et seq.;
elected member of Institution of
Civil Engineers, 128; and Fellow
of Royal Society, 128, 129;
removal of office to Great
George-street, Westminster, 129;
the regenerative furnace, 130 et seq.;
the gas-producer, 131 et seq.; ap.
proval of Professor Faraday, 134
136; receives medal at International
Exhibition, 136; success of the
furnace in glass making, 137, 138;
in other applications, 139; puddling
furnaces, 140, 141; the steel manu-
facture, 142-154; the Siemens
Sample Steel Works at Birming-
ham, 147, 148; manufacture of
steel rails, 152, 153; the Lan-
dore Siemens Steel Company, 154;
the regenerative gas engine, 154,
155; gunnery inventions, 155;
Birmingham Gas Consumers' Com-
pany, 155, 156; revival of the
chronometric governor, 156, 157;
takes part in discussions of British
Association, 157; electrical work,
158; laying the Malta-Alexandria
cable, 158, 159; indiarubber as an
insulator, 159; papers on electrical
tests, 156, 160; description of
E E
410
INDEX.
SIEMENS.
Siemens and Halske's exhibits at
Exhibition of 1862, 160; his share
in the first Atlantic cable, 161;
forms the Charlton electrical manu-
facturing works in company with
Werner and Carl, 163; making
and laying the Algerian cable, 164,
165; its failure, 167, 168; con-
struction of the Indo-European
telegraph, 168–180; improvements
in electric apparatus, 180; domes-
tic life at Twickenham, 181; trip
to Germany, 181; removal to
Campden Hill, 182; trip to Italy,
184; illness at Bonchurch, 184;
Christmas at Berlin with his bro-
thers, 185; death of Hans, 185;
trip to Switzerland, 185, 186;
retrospect and position, 187-190;
manufacture of steel, 191 et seq.;
extension of Landore works, 191;
supplies steel for the Navy, 194, 195;
production of iron and steel direct
from the ores, 196-200; his me-
thods, 198, 199; patents, 200;
difficulties with the Indo-European
telegraph, 201; system of relays,
202; destruction of the telegraph
in Georgia and Black Sea by earth-
quake, 203; deviation of route,
203; success and recognition, 204;
honours from the Shah, 205, 206;
construction and laying of Direct
Atlantic cable, 206-210; the
Faraday, 207, 208; construction
and laying of Brazilian cable, 210–
222; wreck of the Gomos, 211;
of the La Plata, 211-221; honours
from the Emperor of Brazil, 222;
construction and laying of French
Atlantic cable, 222, 223; electric
lighting and power, 223 et seq.;
visits Berlin, to see Werner's expe-
riments with magneto-electric ma-
chines, 234; brings them before
the Royal Society, 236, 237;
patents, 238; constructs lights at
the Lizard and Albert Hall, 247 ;
electric transmission of power, 248
et seq.; invention of the electric
pyrometer, 252-254; of the batho-
meter and attraction meter, 254,
255; of the deep-sea photometer,
255, 256; of vessels to resist high
pressure, 257; plan of iron-plating
war vessels, 257, 258; relations
with the Royal Society, 260; the
SIEMENS.
British Association, 261; the In-
stitution of Civil Engineers, 261;
the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, 262; the Iron and
Steel Institute, 262-265; the
Society of Telegraph Engineers
and Electricians, 265, 266; the
Institution of Naval Architects,
266; the Hall of Applied Sciences,
266, 267; the Society of Arts,
267, 268; the Chemical Society,
269; the Royal Institution of
Great Britain, 269; the United
Service Institution, 269; the Athe-
næum Club, 270, 271; Glas-
gow Science Lectures, 272; illness
of Mrs. Siemens, 272, 273; D.C.L.
of Oxford, 273, 274; removal to
Uxbridge Road, 274; trip to the
Engadine, 274, 275; visit to Rome,
275, 276; to Vienna, 276, 277;
removal of London offices to Queen
Anne's Gate, 277; Sherwood House,
277 et seq.; nominated correspond-
ing member of the French "Société
d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie
Nationale," 279; explains model
of the Faraday to the Queen, and
the Empress of Germany, 280;
received by the German Empress,
280; trip to America, 280, 281;
"At home with the Emperor of
Brazil, 281; honorary member of
Cambridge Philosophical Society,
281; LL.D. of Glasgow, 281;
entertainment at Sherwood, 281,
282; trip to Italy, 282; change in
mode of treating subjects, 283-285;
applications of heat, 285; the gas
fire-place, 285-289; the smoke
abatement movement, 289–292;
interest of the Prince of Wales in,
290-292; Sir William Thomson
on, 291; gas as a heating agent,
292-294; conversion of Charlton
firm into limited liability company,
294, 295; installation of electric
light at British Museum, 295; at
Royal Albert Docks, 296; at
the Savoy Theatre, 296, 297; at
Godalming, 298; in the Austral
steamship, 298, 299; electric rail-
ways, 299-308; other applications
of electrical power, 308 et seq.;
lecture at Institution of Civil
Engineers, 309-311; electric heat-
ing, 311-313; vegetation under
"
INDEX.
4II
SIEMENS.
electric light, 314-320; electric
units, 320, 321; studies in consti-
tution of sun and nature of solar
energy, 321-328; connection with
the Indian Engineering College,
328-331; the electrical thermo-
meter, 331-333; at the Vienna
Electric Exhibition, 333-335; Pre-
sident of British Association, 335-
337; Chairman of Council of
Society of Arts, 337-338; awarded
Howard Prize by Institution of Civil
Engineers, 338, 339; address to
French Society of Civil Engineers
and award of Legion of Honour,
340-342; President of Birmingham
Midland Institute, 342-344; founds
prize at King's College, 344; gives
evidence before Royal Commission
on Technical Education, 345-347;
lecture on "Waste," 347; address
at City and Guilds of London Insti-
tute, 347, 348; visit to Naples,
348; to Düsseldorf, 348; lecture
to young men, 349; present to
Oxford Museum, 349, 350; visits
Cannes and Algiers, 350; Freedom
and Livery of the Goldsmiths' Com-
pany, 350, 351; LL.D. of Dublin,
351; visit to Duke of Sutherland,
351; to Scotland, 352; Freedom
and Livery of Turners' Company,
352; knighthood, 353 et seq.;
congratulations, 354; death of Mr.
Spottiswoode, 356; views on Sun-
day labour, 358-361; illness and
death, 356-362; "Anerkennung,”
363 et seq.; funeral service in West-
minster Abbey, 364–370; burial in
Kensal-green, 370, 371; memorial
window in Westminster Abbey,371
et seq., 378; will, 379; obituary
notices, 379 et seq.; special charac-
teristics, as a man of science, 392;
as an engineer, 393; as an inven-
tor, 393; as a man of business,
394-398; his literary power, 398,
399; description of himself, 399-
401.
Smith, Henry J. S., thanks Dr.
Siemens for present to Oxford
Museum, 350.
Smoke abatement movement, the,
289-292.
Smyth, C. Piazzi, on Dr. Siemens's
sun paper, 324, 325, 326.
Société d'Encouragement pour l'In-
TRAILL.
dustrie Nationale, nominate Dr.
Siemens a corresponding member,
279; eulogy on, 389.
Society of Arts, the, Dr. Siemens's
relations with, 267, 268; chairman
of Council, 337, 338; Prince and
Princess of Wales at soirée of, 337,
338; their recognition of Sir Wil-
liam Siemens's services, 365 et seq.;
resolution on his death, 381.
Spencer, Earl, opens Portrush electric
railway, 305, 306.
Spottiswoode, Mr., on Dr. Siemens's
theory of conservation of solar
energy, 325, 326; death of, 356.
Stirling, Rev. Dr., discoverer of the
regenerator, 74.
Stockholm Academy of Sciences, Dr.
Siemens elected foreign member of,
348.
Stollberg, Count, engineering machine
factory of, at Magdeburg, 30 et seq.,
49.
Submarine cables, first laid at Kiel,
114; between England and France,
114 et seq.; others laid by Messrs.
Siemens, 117, 164, 165, 177.
Sutherland, Duke of, entertains Dr.
Siemens at Dunrobin Castle, 351.
Symons, G. J., and Dr. Siemens's
electrical thermometer, 332, 333.
TAYLOR, General Sir Alexander, and
the Indian Engineering College,
330.
Telegraph Engineers and Electricians,
Society of, Dr. Siemens's relations
with, 265, 266, 312, 388.
Thomson, Sir William, on William
Siemens's water-meter, 109, 110;
on the smoke-abatement movement,
291; on gas as a heating agent,
294; at opening of Portrush electric
railway, 306; on the electric light
in horticulture, 319; at Vienna
Electric Exhibition, 333, 334; en-
tertains Dr. Siemens at Largs, 352;
writes his obituary for the Royal
Society, 388.
Times, obituary notice of Sir William
Siemens in, 384.
Towcester, rotative furnaces erected
at, for making iron and steel from
the ores, 198, 199.
Traill, Messrs., and the Portrush
electric railway, 303-306.
412
INDEX.
TURNERS' COMPANY.
Turners' Company, Dr. Siemens pre-
sented with Freedom and Livery of,
352, 353.
Twickenham, residence of William
Siemens at, 181.
Tyndall, Dr., lectures on the electric
light, 237, 248; reports on dynamo
machines, 247.
UNITED
SERVICE
INSTITUTION,
lecture by Dr. Siemens at, 269, 270.
VARLEY, Alfred, discoveries by, in
magneto-electricity, 237.
Vienna, Dr. Siemens at, 276, 277;
electric railway at, 303; Electric
Exhibition, 333-335.
Volta, discovery of the electric pile
by, 224.
WALKER, C. V., makes electric experi-
ments at Dover, 115.
Warrior, the, first armour-plated
ship, 257.
Wasserleben, birthplace of Christian
Ferdinand Siemens, 7.
ZAUKERODE.
Water-meter, William Siemens's in-
vention of, 105-110.
Wedding, Professor H., lectures at
Berlin on Sir William Siemens,
390.
Westminster Abbey, funeral service to
Sir William Siemens in, 364-370 ;
and memorial window, 371 et seq.,
378.
Wheatstone, magneto-electric step-
by-step instrument of, 230; dis-
coveries in magneto-electricity, 237
Wilde, Mr., magneto-electric machine
of, 232, 233.
Wilhelm Blenkelszoon, the, rescues
two survivors from wreck of La
Plata, 216.
William, Prince of Prussia, sends
message of condolence to Dr.
Werner von Siemens on Sir
William's death, 364.
Woods, Joseph, associated with Wil-
liam Siemens in producing the
chronometric governor, 51-53; and
anastatic printing, 55-58; death of,
70.
ZAUKERODE, electric haulage in mines
at, 302.
THE END.
BRADBURY, Agnew, & co., printers, whitefriars.
ALBEMARLE STREET,
April, 1889.
MR. MURRAY'S LIST
OF
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
***
THE SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES OF
H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.
DURING TWENTY-FIVE YEARS-1863-1888.
Edited by JAMES MACAULAY, M.A.
With Portrait. 8vo. 125.
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE LATE
JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, D.C.L.
FORMERLY UNITED STATES MINISTER IN ENGLAND.
AUTHOR OF
"THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC," "HISTORY OF THE
UNITED NETHERLANDS," &c.
Edited by GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.
Second Edition. With Portrait. 2 Vols. 8vo. 30s.
"In the two handsome and beautifully printed volumes before us one of the greatest of
America's historians has proved that the epistolary Muse of English literature dare not give
her Transatlantic sister odds. There is a portrait of Mr. Motley in the first of these volumes,
and the book accurately fulfils the promise of his captivating countenance.
A better example
of the trust that may be placed in the good looks which have been described as better than
any other letters of introduction is not often met with. Our sole object in this notice is to
make it clear to all whom it concerns that Mr. Motley's correspondence is a boon to book-
lovers, and is as well worth purchasing as it is beyond all question well worth reading. In a
word, this correspondence may be not untruly said to be a most valuable addition to a most
pleasant department of literature, and as such it deserves all the success which we most con-
fidently anticipate for it."-Spectator.
2
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
THE RAILWAYS OF
OF ENGLAND.
By W. M. ACWORTH.
With 56 Illustrations. 8vo. 14s.
CONTENTS:
NORTH WESTERN.
MIDLAND.
SOUTH WESTERN.
GREAT WESTERN.
GREAT NORTHERN.
GREAT EASTERN.
MANCHESTER,
SHEFFIELD, &
LINCOLN.
NORTH EASTERN.
BRIGHTON & SOUTH COAST.
CHATHAM & DOVER.
SOUTH EASTERN.
"It is long since there was a more interesting book written upon a purely practical and
industrial subject. From end to end it is thoroughly readable, and appeals as strongly to the
casual reader who seeks only amusement as to the more sedate person who reads it for
reference."-St. James's Gazette.
BUDDHISM,
ITS CONNEXION WITH BRAHMANISM AND HINDUISM,
AND ITS CONTRAST WITH CHRISTIANITY
By SIR MONIER WILLIAMS, K.C.I.E., D.C.L., &c.
With 21 Illustrations. 8vo. 21S.
"C Those who would study the subject fully, and it is well worth it, must go to the extremely
able and carefully written book which Sir Monier Williams has produced. They will
learn the relation of Buddhism to the earlier thoughts of India. They will have the details of
the present faith and worship of Buddhists in different lands, with full accounts of the works,
and beautifully engraved pictures of idols, temples and relics."-The Rock.
THE LAND OF
MANFRED,
PRINCE OF TARENTUM AND KING OF SICILY.
•
RAMBLES IN REMOTE PARTS OF SOUTHERN ITALY,
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THEIR HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS.
By JANET ROSS,
Author of "Three Generations of Englishwomen."
With Map and Illustrations.
Crown 8vo.
IOS, бar
[Fust out.
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
3
THE BATTLE ABBEY ROLL.
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NORMAN LINEAGES.
By the DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND.
3 Vols. Small 4to. 48s.
The work is the most exhaustive that has yet appeared upon its subject, and it will be
valued as a work both for reading and for reference by all whose studies lead them to inves-
tigate the history and relationships of Norman families in England.”—Scotsman.
LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S.,
CIVIL ENGINEER.
By WILLIAM POLE, F.R.S.,
HON. SECRETARY OF THe Institute of Civil Engineers.
With Portrait and Illustrations.
8vo.
16s.
"Mr. Pole had a straightforward story to tell, and has told it in a way likely to interest
and instruct a wide circle of readers. Sir William's biography shows him to have been a man
of high talent, which under effective discipline and the teachings of experience, was success-
fully and profitably applied in devising and carrying out undertakings which form marked
features in the history of the period with which this biography deals."--Times.
THE SCIENTIFIC WORKS
OF THE LATE
SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S.
A COLLECTION OF PAPERS AND DISCOURSES.
Edited by E. F. BAMBER, C.E.
VOL. I.-HEAT AND METALLURGY.
""
II.-ELECTRICITY, &c.
III.-ADDRESSES AND LECTURES.
With Illustrative Plates and Index. 3 Vols. 8vo. 12s. each.
"For many years Sir W. Siemens has been a regular attendant at our meetings, and to
few, indeed, have they been more indebted for success. Whatever the occasion, he had
always new and interesting ideas, put forth in language which a child could understand. It
is no exaggeration to say that the life of such a man was spent in the public service."-LORD
RAYLEIGH at British Association, 1884.
4
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
THE DUKE
DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S
•
CONVERSATIONS
WITH THE LATE
EARL STANHOPE. 1831-1851.
Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 75. 6d.
The literature and history of England already owe much to the house of Stanhope, and
these 'Conversations' will considerably increase the debt-an extremely interesting little
volume. All classes of readers may find their account in this book; chatter or scandal
about the living there is not, but there is almost everything else. Those who gauge a book
solely by the number of amusing stories it contains will find plenty to their taste, and yet
more is there to the taste of those who are interested in improving their acquaintance with one
of the greatest captains who has ever made war; one of the finest characters in human story;
the bravest, truest, most unselfish, and most unswerving man who has ever served his country
at any time in any capacity."-World.
"The volume is a museum of anecdote, history, and opinion, abounding so much in good
things that it is difficult to select, and almost impossible to abridge."-Spectator.
4
The whole volume is replete with reminiscences of the Great Duke of the most interesting
description."--Morning Post.
LIVES OF TWELVE GOOD MEN.
By JOHN W. BURGON, B.D., Late Dean of Chichester.
The Learned Divine. MARTIN JOSEPH ROUTH.
The Restorer of the Old Paths. HUGH JAMES Rose.
The Man of Saintly Life. CHARLES MARRiott.
The Great Provost. EDWARD HAWKINS.
The Remodeller of the Episcopate. SAMUEL Wilberforce.
The Humble Christian. RICHARD LYNCH COTTON.
The Faithful Steward.
RICHARD GRESWELL.
HENRY OCTAVIUS COXE.
The Christian Philosopher.
The Pious Librarian.
The Singleminded Bishop.
HENRY LONGUEVIlle Mansel.
WILLIAM JACOBSON.
"
The Earnest Parish Priest. CHARLES Page Eden.
The Good Layman. CHARLES LONGUET HIGGINS.
Fifth Edition. 2 Vols.
Crown 8vo. 245.
Everything about Burgon, from his figure to his umbrella, suggested originality and
independence of mind. Here we see displayed his tenderness of heart, his love of children,
his strong sense of humour, his fund of anecdote, his independence of speech, his fervent
piety, his loyalty to his friends and to his University. No student of religious life in this
country during the XIXth Century can afford to neglect so rich a collection of anecdotes, and
no Oxonian should pass by a work which is inspired by a passionate enthusiasm for much of
what is best and noblest in the past or present life of Oxford."—Athenæum.
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
5
VOYAGE OF THE
THE MARCHESA
NEW GUINEA.
ΤΟ
KAMSCHATKA AND NEW
WITH NOTICES OF FORMOSA, LIU-KIU, AND THE
ISLANDS OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.
By F. H. H. GUILLEMARD, F.L.S.
New and Cheaper Edition. Maps and Illustrations. One Volume. Medium 8vo. 215.
"Mr. Guillemard has done well in publishing a cheaper edition of that admirable book of
travel The Cruise of the Marchesa, in which he showed to so much advantage both as a nar-
rator of his various experiences on his different voyages, and as a keen observer of the natural
history of the strange lands which he visited during the cruise. The present edition has the
merit of being cheaper than the original, while the merit has not been attained by any sub-
stantive sacrifice of attractive matter."-John Bull.
ENGLISH FANS AND FAN
COLLECTED AND DESCRIBED.
LEAVES.
By LADY CHARLOTTE SCHREIBER.
With 160 Plates. Handsomely Bound. Folio, £7 75.
The greater number of the designs upon these fans relate to historical events of the
end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.
** The Edition is Limited to 150 Copies.
THE REVISION, REVISED.
I. THE NEW GREEK TEXT.
II. THE NEW ENGLISH VERSION.
III. WESTCOTT AND HORT'S TEXTUAL THEORY.
With a Reply to Bishop Ellicott's Defence of the Revisers, and a Vindication of the
Traditional Reading of 1 Timothy iii. 16.
By J. W. BURGON, B.D.
Late Dean of Chichester.
Second Edition. 8vo. 145.
6 Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE.
A NATURALIST'S VOYAGE
VOYAGE ROUND
THE WORLD,
WITH NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY AND GEOLOGY OF THE
COUNTRIES VISITED.
By CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S.
Cheap and Popular Edition. With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 35. 6d.
[Just ou'.
THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH
WOMEN.
OR MEMOIRS OF MRS. JOHN TAYLOR-MRS. SARAH
AUSTIN-AND LADY DUFF GORDON.
By JANET ROSS.
With Portraits. 2 Vols.
Crown 8vo. 245.
•
"Two charming volumes brimful of fresh and delightful reading. A more valuable
collection of letters of eminent men has seldom been published."-Pall Mall Gazette.
"
It is satisfactory to think that the memories of three women whose lives were so typical
of English thought and manners are not to be left to oblivion
we can recall no
•
•
•
feminine parallel to the remarkable sequence of grandmother, mother and daughter
the pages slip by the reader almost as easily as the pages of a novel."—Guardian.
•
OLD DECCAN DAYS;
OR, HINDOO FAIRY LEGENDS CURRENT IN SOUTHERN
INDIA.
COLLECTED FROM ORAL TRADITION.
By MARY FRERE.
With Introduction by the late Sir BARTLE FRERE, Bart.
Fourth Edition. With 50 Illustrations. Post Svo. 5s.
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
7
THE
POLITICAL AND PRIVATE CORRESPON-
DENCE OF DANIEL O'CONNELL,
1792-1847.
EDITED WITH NOTICES OF HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
By WM. J. FITZPATRICK, F.S.A.
With Portrait. 2 Vols.
2 Vols. 8vo. 36s.
·
"Mr. Fitzpatrick, while presenting to us a collection of moderate extent, has not only
woven them into a web of fair average continuity, but has, as a sculptor would, presented to
us his hero in the round,' so that we may consider each of his qualities in each varied
light, and judge of their combination into a whole, whether it is mean or noble, consistent or
inconsistent, natural or forced.
Few indeed, as I think, of those who give a careful
perusal to these pages, will withhold their assent from the double assertion that he (O'Connell)
was a great man, and that he was a good man. Upon this issue the volume now before us
will enable us to try him; and in trying him to try ourselves. For who can any longer doubt
that some debt is still due to him; that he was, to say the least, both over-censured and
under-valued?"-Mr. GLADSTONE, in The Nineteenth Century.
"
THE CAREER OF
MAJOR GEORGE BROADFOOT, C.B.,
IN AFGHANISTAN AND THE PUNJAB.
COMPILED FROM HIS PAPERS AND THOSE OF
LORDS ELLENBOROUGH AND HARDINGE.
By MAJOR WM. BROADFOOT, R.E.
With Portrait and Maps. 8vo. 15s.
An officer of rare capacity-killed in the prime of life. How high was the estimate of
George Broadfoot may be gathered not only from his deeds, but from the eulogies of friends
who were competent judges. Colin Mackenzie inscribed on his grave these words, 'The fore-
most man in India,'-and, added Havelock, ' truly in intellect and resolution he was. The
same noble soldier, speaking of the siege of Jellalabad, called him 'greater than any or all
that fought in defence of that old wall, and spoke of his 'more than Roman self-devotion,'
his tenderness of heart and 'uncompromising love of truth.' Sir Henry Lawrence said 'he
had no equal on the frontier, and perhaps few in India;' while Lord Hardinge wrote, -' He
united a greater variety of admirable qualities than any other officer I have met with in the
Indian Army.' Herbert Edwardes, commenting on the Battle of Firozshah, refers to him as
⚫ foremost among the dead as he was ever foremost among the living.""-Spectator.
4
8
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
PRINCIPAL SHAIRP AND HIS FRIENDS.
z
44
MEMOIRS OF JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP,
LATE PROFESSOR OF POETRY AT OXFORd.
By WM. KNIGHT,
Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of St. Andrews.
With Portrait. 8vo. 155.
4
Nearly all those who have contributed reminiscences of Shairp are persons whose
judgments are valuable, and who possess the literary faculty in no mean measure. From
beginning to end, in the society of Shairp and His Friends,' the reader will find himself in an
atmosphere of rich intellectual and spiritual life, regaled with food for the mind and pure
wine for the soul. He will linger with pleasure and profit over the various stages in Shairp's .
life."-Scotsman.
THREE COUNSELS OF THE
DIVINE MASTER.
FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE.
I. THE COMMENCEMENT.
II. THE VIRTUES.
III.-THE CONFLICT.
By E. MEYRICK GOULBURN, D.D.
Dean of Norwich.
2 Vols. Crown 8vo. 165.
"A most devout and helpful book.”—John Bull.
A BROKEN STIRRUP-LEATHER.
By CHARLES GRANVILLE,
Author of "Sir Hector's Watch."
Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.
"The characters are natural and life-like, and afford opportunity for a number of amusing
or exciting incidents. In short, the book does not lose by comparison with the bright and
taking style that characterised his previous book."-Morning Post.
"A finished work in its way. The heroes and heroines are all thorough gentlemen and
gentlewomen—a somewhat rare perfection in these days—and are full of individual character
told with pleasant humour."-Guardian.
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
9
THE INVISIBLE POWERS OF NATURE.
SOME ELEMENTARY LESSONS IN PHYSICAL SCIENCE
FOR YOUNG BEGINNERS.
HEAT, LIGHT, SOUND, GRAVITATION, SOLIDS, FLUIDS,
ELECTRICITY, MAGNETISM, &c.
By E. M. CAILLARD.
Post 8vo. 65.
We would especially single out for praise the chapters devoted to the Wave Theory and
Interference. The book is one which will bear good fruit in the hands of the young, and we
congratulate the authoress on having produced a very readable little volume."—Journal of
Education.
We admire the lucidity and easy power with which the most recondite or complicated
matters are treated, and the manner in which common matters are made illustrative."-Non-
conformist.
"We have rarely met with a work of the kind in which so much information is so clearly
and so accurately set forth."-Gardener's Chronicle.
STEPHEN HISLOP.
PIONEER MISSIONARY AND NATURALIST IN CENTRAL
INDIA. 1844–1863.
By GEORGE SMITH, C.I.E., LL.D.,
Author of "The Life of William Carey," &c.
With Portrait and Illustrations. 800. 145.
"It would have been difficult to find anyone better fitted for the task of writing this
biography than Dr. Smith. Missions that can boast of missionaries of the stamp of Stephen
Hislop cannot be altogether a failure."-Pall Mall Gazette.
"Dr. Smith has here found a fascinating theme for his pen."-Nonconformist.
·
FINANCE AND POLITICS;
AN HISTORICAL STUDY, 1783-1885.
By SYDNEY BUXTON, M.P.
2 Vols. 8vo. 26s.
A couple of extremely interesting and readable volumes."-Spectator.
"Taken as a whole, the book presents us with an exhaustive and accurate political
history of our own times."-Guardian.
'Likely to have a considerable influence upon political thought."-Daily News.
ΙΟ
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
MAJOR LAWRENCE, F. L. S.
A NOVEL.
By the Hon. EMILY LAWLESS,
Author of "Hurrish."
Popular Edition. One Volume. Crown 8vo. 6s.
•
"It was not an easy task to write a novel like 'Major Lawrence, F.L.S.' . . . but in our
judgment Miss 'Lawless has completely succeeded. altogether there have been few stories
published this season which may be read with such sincere pleasure, or studied with more
profit."—Academy.
"We part with 'Major Lawrence' with regret ; it is a good book, a pure book, a book to
stimulate and to help men and women whose lives are not all sunshine. -Yorkshire Post.
"
INTERNATIONAL LAW.
BEING THE WHEWELL LECTURES DELIVERED BEFORE THE
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE IN 1887.
By SIR HENRY SUMNER MAINE, K.C.S.I.,
Late Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and Member of the Indian Council..
8vo. 7s. 6d.
"These Lectures are marked by that lucidity of statement and felicity of illustration that
are so characteristic of Sir Henry Maine's writings."-Manchester Guardian.
"They reveal his mind throughout; they are full of the touches of his master hand.'
"
Times.
A HANDBOOK
ΤΟ
POLITICAL QUESTIONS OF THE DAY,
AND THE ARGUMENTS ON EITHER SIDE.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION.
By SYDNEY BUXTON, M.P.
Seventh Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. 8s.
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
I E
THE VEGETABLE GARDEN:
ILLUSTRATIONS, DESCRIPTIONS, AND CULTURE OF
THE GARDEN VEGETABLES CULTIVATED
IN EUROPE AND AMERICA.
By M. VILMORIN ANDRIEUX.
With 750 Woodcuts. 8vo. 155.
"Innumerable treatises on the cultivation of vegetables have been written, but 'The Vege-
table Garden' is the first work in any language in which are classified, described, and illus-
trated what are the most important of all plants to the human race. It is the production of
men who in their work for many years past have had good opportunities of thoroughly study-
ing the subject. No excuse is needed for 'making English' such a book-for the benefit, not
only of our own horticulture (increasing in interest and importance every year), but also for
that of America, and of Australia and our other colonies, in which, happily, the plants herein
described may be grown. It will be an aid in erabling us to realise the wonderful variety of
light, pleasant, and excellent food now within our reach, and in making many a good vegetable
more widely known."—From the Preface.
NEW AND UNIFORM EDITIONS OF GROTE'S HISTORIES.
I. HISTORY OF GREECE
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE TIME OF
ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
With Portrait, Map, and Plans. 10 Vols., Post 8vo, 50s.
*** This Edition is printed from the last Library Edition, which contained the
Author's final revision. The volumes may be had separately.
II. PLATO.
AND OTHER COMPANIONS OF SOKRATES.
NEW EDITION. WITH THE CONTENTS SO ARRANGED THAT EACH VOLUME IS
COMPOSED OF NEARLY RELATED SUBJECTS.
4 Vols. Crown 8vo. 5s. each.
I 2
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
THE INFALLIBILITY OF
OF THE CHURCH.
A COURSE OF LECTURES DELIVERED IN THE DIVINITY
SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN.
By GEORGE SALMON, D.D.,
Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.
8vo. 12s.
"As regards style and manner the Provost is almost an ideal controversialist. In the first
place he is never dull, verbose, obscure, discursive, irrelevant or tedious. Next he is scrupu-
lously honourable towards opponents. Lastly he writes throughout with charity and courtesy."
-John Bull.
One of the ablest books we have yet fallen in with upon the Roman controversy. We
can assure those who may be alarmed and repelled by its bulk that it is remarkably easy and
even pleasant reading."-Church Times.
THE HOLY
HOLY
PLACES
PLACES OF JERUSALEM.
By J. HAYTER LEWIS, F.S.A.,
Vice-President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and Emeritus Professor of Architecture,
University College, London.
With Illustrations. 8vo.
IOS. 6d.
By far the most important contribution to the discussion respecting the holy places of
Jerusalem that has appeared since 1878, when Mr. Fergusson published his 'Temples of the
Jews.'. . . . A book which should be read and studied by every one who takes an interest in
the sacred shrines of the Holy City."-Athenæum.
DEAN HOOK'S CHURCH
DICTIONARY:
A PRACTICAL MANUAL OF REFERENCE FOR
CLERGYMEN AND LAYMEN.
14th Edition, thoroughly Revised.
By WALTER HOOK, M.A., and W. R. W. STEPHENS, M.A.
8vo. 215.
One Volume. (790 pp.) 8vo.
•
•
"No book could have gone through so many editions, and have become so widely
appreciated, without having well deserved its reputation
the revision has been
conducted with the utmost care, while the judicious impartiality with which editors have
treated matters on which opinion is still divided, deserves our warmest acknowledgment."-
Saturday Review.
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
13
[UNIFORM WITH THE “SPEAKER'S COMMENTARY.”]
THE APOCRYPHA,
WITH A COMMENTARY, EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL.
AND A REVISION OF THE TRANSLATION.
BY THE FOLLOWING CLERGY OF THE ANGLICAN Church.
Introduction
Esdras
Tobit & Esther
Judith
Song of Three Children
Susanna
Bel and Dragon
George Salmon, D.D., Provost Trin. Coll., Dublin.
J. H. LUPTON, M. A., Sur-master of St. Paul's School.
J. M. FULLER, M.A., Professor of Ecclesiastical
History, King's Coll., London.
C. J. BALL, M.A., Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn.
Manasses
Wisdom
Ecclesiasticus
Baruch & Jeremy
Maccabees
Archdeacon FARRAR, D.D.
ALFRED EDERSHEIM, D.D.
Archdeacon GIFFORD, D.D.
Canon RAWLINSON, M. A.
Edited by HENRY WACE, D.D.,
Preacher of Lincoln's Inn, Prebendary of St. Paul's, and Principal of King's College, London.
2 Vols. Medium 8vo. 50s.
"We feel that this Commentary on the Apocrypha marks a distinct advance in English
theological scholarship. We can hardly imagine that thirty or even twenty years ago any.
thing of the kind would have been attempted. We are sure that it would have been executed
in a very different spirit.”—Record.
"Dr. Wace and his able coadjutors have done their work in so thorough, scholarly, and
workmanlike, luminous, and yet so readable a manner, that they have left little to be desired.
It is far and away the best guide to the study of the Apocrypha yet issued from the English
or American press."—Nonconformist.
LETTERS FROM NAPLES. I THE GREAT SILVER RIVER.
During the Autumn of 1884.
By AXEL MUNTHE.
Translated by
MAUDE VALÉRIE WHITE.
With Frontispiece. Post 8vo. 6s.
Notes of a Residence in Buenos
Ayres.
By Sir HORACE RUMBOLD,
Bart., K.C.M.G.,
H. B. M. Minister at The Hague.
With Illustrations.
Crown 8vo.
125.
14 Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
1
SIR HENRY LAYARD'S
EARLY ADVENTURES IN PERSIA,
SUSIANA, AND BABYLONIA.
BEFORE THE DISCOVERY OF NINEVEH.
INCLUDING AN ASCENT OF THE KARUN AND A RESIDENCE
AMONG THE BAKHTIYARI AND OTHER WILD TRIBES.
With Portrait and Illustrations. 2 Vols. 8vo. 24s.
"Whatever may be the claims of other publications, with very many readers these two
volumes will be considered the most entertaining of the season's issues-they are full of the
deepest interest from cover to cover."-Field.
"Il est impossible de lire cet ouvrage sans éprouver un sentiment de juste admiration
envers Sir H. Layard."-Revue Nouvelle.
MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE'S HISTORY OF INDIA.
I. HINDU AND MAHOM- | II.-RISE OF THE BRITISH
MEDAN PERIODS.
Edited by E. B. COWELL.
5th Edition, with Map. 8vo. 18s.
POWER in the EAST.
By SIR EDWARD COLEBROOKE.
With Maps. 8vo. 16s.
A READABLE ENGLISH DICTIONARY.
ETYMOLOGICALLY ARRANGED.
WITH A COMPLETE ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
By DAVID MILNE, M.A.
Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.
"The book will be found both interesting and useful to many who have not had a
Classical Education. The general plan of the book appears to be good, the practical
utility of etymological information being much increased when words derived from the same
source are brought together for comparison. The definitions are usually well expressed.".
Athenæum.
"The main purpose of this work is to provide for those who either do not get a Classical
Education, or who are mere beginners in the study of Greek and Latin, an easy, interesting
and instructive method of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the derivatives from these
languages common in English."—Preface.
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
15
ETON COLLEGE SCHOOL BOOKS-NEW SERIES.
1.-ETON LATIN GRAMMAR. FOR THE HIGHER FORM
By F. H. RAWLINS, M.A., and W. R. INGE, M.A.,
Fellows of King's College, Cambridge, and Assistant Masters at Eton College.
Crown 8vo.
6s.
"A good school-book, intelligently designed, well arranged, of moderate size, and excellently printed.
The word lore, often so dry and shapeless, is here reduced to intelligible and interesting accounts of the
history and analysis of inflexional forms, each in its proper place. The accidence is generally helpful, and
a good stepping-stone to philological study.”—Journal of Education.
II.-ETON ELEMENTARY LATIN GRAMMAR.
FOR USE IN THE LOWER FORMS.
COMPILED, WITH THE SANCTION OF THE Headmaster,
By C. A. AINGER, M.A., and H. G. WINTLE, M.A.,
Trinity College, Cambridge,
Christ Church, Oxford,
Assistant-Masters at Eton College.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
III.-ETON PREPARATORY GRAMMAR, ABRIDGED from
THE ABOVE WORK.
Crown 8vo. '25.
IV. -*ETON FIRST LATIN EXERCISE BOOK.
Crown 8vo.
ADAPTED
2s. 6d.
TO THE LATIN GRAMMAR.
"Excellent in every respect. It makes no pretence to a scientific method of treatment, but for the purpose
for which it is intended we have no hesitation in pronouncing it almost ideally perfect."-John Bull.
v.-ETON FOURTH FORM OVID:
SELECTIONS FROM OVID AND TIBULLUS.
With Notes by H. G. WINTLE.
Third Edition. Crown 8vo.
2s. 6d.
VI.-ETON HORACE:
THE ODES, EPODES, AND CARMEN SECULARE.
With Notes. By F. W. CORNISH, M.A.,
Assistant-Master at Eton College.
In Two Parts. With Maps. Crown 8vo. 6s.
As it is considered desirable that the notes should be used only in the preparation of the
lesson, and not in the class, they are bound up separate from the text.
"The idea of publishing the notes separately seems to us a good one in the case of a text-book for
schools. The notes can then be employed in preparing the lesson, while the text alone is brought into
class. The Eton Horace is a thoroughly sensible and useful book. The notes are sufficiently full without
sacrificing brevity, and, as far as we can see, they do not shirk difficult passages."-Literary World.
VII.-*ETON EXERCISES IN ALGEBRA.
By E. P. ROUSE and A. COCKSHOTT.
Assistant-Masters at Eton College.
Crown 8vo. 35.
VIII.- -ETON EXERCISES IN ARITHMETIC.
By Rev. T. DALTON, M.A.,
Assistant-Master at Eton College.
Crown 8vo. 35.
* Keys may be purchased by authenticated teachers on written application to the Publisher,
16
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
THE DICTIONARY OF
OF CHRISTIAN
BIOGRAPHY,
LITERATURE, SECTS, DOCTRINES, &c.
CONTAINING A COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF THE PERSONAL, THE LITERARY,
THE DOGMATIC, AND THE ECCLESIASTICAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH DURING
THE FIRST EIGHT CENTURIES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Edited by WM. SMITH, D.C.L., and HENRY WACE, D.D.
4 Vols. Medium 8vo. £6 16s. 6d.
"The value of the work arises, in the first place, from the fact that the contributors to
these volumes have diligently eschewed mere compilation; and, in fact, the articles include
many really important monographs by highly competent scholars, frequently adding to a
summary of what had been already known the results of new and original investigations.
Essays of this class deserve the better welcome on account of their comparative infrequency in
this country.
In these volumes we welcome the most important addition that has been
made for a century to the historical library of the English theological student."-The Times.
"This noble collection of biographies and treatises ought properly to be reviewed, as it has
been compiled, by distribution amongst specialists. Many of its articles, if they were printed
in larger type, would make volumes of considerable size, and supply the critic with plenty of
hard work.
The Dictionary as it stands is a truly noble monument of the best con-
temporary English scholarship, in which the two absolutely necessary elements of the perfect
historical temper-the conservative and the critical-too often opposed as contraries, are
happily blended."-Saturday Review.
** Subscribers are recommended to complete their Sets.
SAMUEL TAYLOR
TAYLOR
COLERIDGE
And the English Romantic School.
By Professor ALOIS BRANDL,
Professor of English at the University of Prague.
Translated by LADY EASTLAKE.
"
With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 125.
Coleridge's life, character, and substan-
tial work recounted, described, and estimated
with uncommon geniality and fairness, and a
most agreeable absence of ostentation of
science and system.. A treatise of much
learning and good sense. St. James's
Gazette.
•
THE CAUSES WHICH LED
TO THE FRENCH REVO-
LUTION, 1789,
And the State of Society before it.
By ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE.
Translated by
HENRY REEVE, D.C.L.
Third Edition. 8vo. 125.
CORNEY GRAIN.
By HIMSELF.
Post 8vo. IS.
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
17
The LAND of the MIDNIGHT, The CAMPAIGN of the NILE.
SUN;
Summer and Winter Journeys
through Sweden, Norway, Lap-
land, and Northern Finland,
By PAUL B. DU CHAILLU,
Author of "Explorations in Equatorial
Africa," &c.
4th Edition. Map and Illustrations.
2 Vols.
8vo. 36s.
"Mr. Du Chaillu's work is likely to become
one of the most popular books of the season.
-Times.
"
Full of interest from beginning to end."
–Pall Mall Gazette.
"
No writer has made travel in desolate
regions more attractive."-Spectator.
The Testimony of an Indepen-
dent Eye-Witness of the Heroic
efforts made for the Rescue and
Relief of Gordon and Khartoum.
By ALEXANDER MACDONALD.
With Maps and Plans.
8vo.
I25.
Crown
We have only been able to indicate a few
of the many points of interest which Mr.
Macdonald has presented in his excellent book.
He is to be thanked for telling with candour
and clearness, as well as with great literary
skill, the story of our military glory and poli-
tical dishonour."-St. James's Gazette.
KUGLER'S HANDBOOK OF
PAINTING.
THE ITALIAN SCHOOLS.
By SIR A. HENRY LAYARD,
G.C.B., D.C.L.,
Corresponding Member of the Institut de France,
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres; Trus-
tee of the National Gallery, &c.; Author of
"Nineveh and its Remains."
Fifth Edition. Revised, with 200 Illus-
trations. Two Vols.
Two Vols. Crown 8vo. 30s.
OLD ENGLISH PLATE:
ECCLESIASTICAL, DECORATIVE,
AND DOMESTIC; ITS MAKERS
AND MARKS.
WITH IMPROVED TABLES OF THE DATE-
Letters USED IN ENGLAnd, Scot-
LAND, AND IRELAND.
By WILFRED J. CRIPPS,
M.A., F.S.A.
Third Edition, with Illustrations, ani
Facsimiles. Medium 8vo.
21S.
A GLOSSARY OF ANGLO-
INDIAN COLLOQUIAL WORDS
AND PHRASES,
Etymological, Historical, Geo-
graphical, and Discursive.
By Col. YULE, C.B., and
ARTHUR BURNELL, C.I.E.
Medium 8vo. 36s. Half bound.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF
BRITISH INDIA, POLITICAL
AND PHYSICAL.
By GEORGE SMITH, LL.D.
Maps. Post 8vo. 7s. 6d.
"How very practical and, at the same
time, how strictly scientific the study of the
new geography may be rendered in capable
hands may be judged from the admirable
work by a distinguished member of the Coun-
cil of this Society. Dr. George Smith, whose
volume is the first systematic geography of
British India, a model of careful research and
of able exposition, which has done more than
any other book to render the physical facts
of our great Eastern dependency intelligible
to the British nation."-Sir W. W. Hunter.
18
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
SOCIETY IN ROME UNDER
THE CÆSARS.
By WM. RALPH INGE, M.A.,
Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Assistant Master at Eton College.
Crown 8vo. 6s.
Contents:-RELIGION-PHILOSOPHY-MORALITY-THE GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY
—LITERATURE AND ART-GRADES OF SOCIETY—EDUCATION, MARRIAGE,
ETC.-DAILY LIFE-AMUSEMENTS-LUXURY.
"An exceedingly interesting volume. An ably written monograph. Its subject and the
interesting manner in which that subject has been treated make it far more attractive to general
readers than the common run of such productions. Mr. Inge gives a clear and striking picture
of the social aspects of Rome. Its scholarship is never obtrusive, and some of the popularity
which has attended Prof. Mahaffy's labours in a similar field will doubtless crown Mr. Inge's
successful efforts."-Scotsman.
THE WORKS OF GEORGE BORROW.
5 Vols. Post 8vo, 2s. 6d. each.
"The career and works of George Borrow are well worthy of study; he may have been 'a
vagabond' by taste and habit, but he was eminently a Christian and a gentleman, and many
men have earned greater name and fame without half his claims to the gratitude of society.".
Saturday Review.
I. THE BIBLE IN
II.
SPAIN;
or, the Journeys and
Imprisonments of an Englishman in an attempt to circulate the Scripture
in the Peninsula. With Portrait.
THE ZINCALI: an Account
Account of the Gypsies of
Spain; their Manners, Customs, Religion, and Language.
III. LAVENGRO: The Scholar-the Gipsy-and the
Priest.
IV. THE ROMANY RYE a Sequel to Lavengro.
V. WILD WALES: its People, Language, and Scenery.
Also, Post 8vo, 5s.
ROMANO LAVO-LIL: With Illustrations of English
Gypsies, their Poetry and Habitations,
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications. 19
1
MURRAY'S MAGAZINE.
HALF-YEARLY VOLUMES, bound in Cloth, Medium 8vo. 7s. 6d. each.
VOLUME I. JANUARY-JUNE, 1887.
VOLUME II. JULY-DECEMBER, 1887.
VOLUME III. JANUARY-JUNE, 1888.
VOLUME IV. JULY-DECEMBER, 1888.
""
'Murray's Magazine seems to stand out head and shoulders above its competitors."-
Glasgow Herald.
"Though only a year old, Murray's has fairly won its way to the very front rank among
magazines."-Nonconformist.
More convenient in form and
""
Murray's Magazine improves with every new month.
eighteenpence cheaper, it seems to contain all that we expect to get in the big monthlies."
Land and Water.
GEOGRAPHICAL
ETYMOLOGY.
A DICTIONARY OF PLACE NAMES,
GIVING THEIR MEANING AND
DERIVATIONS.
By C. BLACKIE.
SERMONS TO CHILDREN.
INCLUDING THE BEATITUDES-
AND THE FAITHFUL SERVANT.
By A. P. STANLEY, D.D.,
Late Dean of Westminster.
Third Edition. Crown Svo. 75.
Fourth Thousand.
Post 8vo.
3s. 6d.
THE COUNTRY BANKER:
HIS CLIENTS, CARES, AND WORK.
FROM FORTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE.
By GEORGE RAE,
Author of "Bullion's Letters to a Bank Manager."
New Edition.
Crown 8vo. 75. 6d.
LORD BEACONSFIELD'S
LETTERS TO HIS SISTER.
WITH
TES.
1830-1852.
ADDITIONAL LETTERS
AND
Edited by HIS BROTHER.
pular Edition. Portrait. Post 8vo. 2s.
I THE CROKER PAPERS
AND DIARIES,
1809-1854.
Relating to the Chief Political
Events of the present Century.
By LOUIS J. JENNINGS, M.P.
Second Edition. Portrait. 3 Vols. 8vo. 45s
20 Mr. Murray's List of New Publications.
LIFE OF CHARLES DARWIN, F.R.S.
WITH AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL CHAPTER.
By his Son, FRANCIS DARWIN, F.R.S.
Seventh Thousand. With Portrait and Woodcuts. 3 Vols. 8vo. 36s.
CHEAPER EDITIONS OF MR. DARWIN'S WORKS.
A NATURALIST'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 35. 6d.
ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION.
6s., or Large Type Edition, 2 Vols. 125.
VARIOUS CONTRIVANCES BY WHICH ORCHIDS ARE FERTILISED
BY INSECTS.
75.
VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS UNDER DOMESTICATION.
2 Vols. 15S.
INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 95.
DESCENT OF MAN, AND SELECTION IN RELATION TO SEX.
7s. 6d., or Large Type Edition, 2 Vols. 155.
MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF CLIMBING PLANTS. 6s.
EFFECTS OF CROSS AND SELF-FERTILIZATION in the VEGETABLE
KINGDOM. 9s.
DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS ON PLANTS OF THE SAME
SPECIES. 7s. 6d.
FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD THROUGH THE ACTION OF
WORMS. 6s.
LIFE OF ERASMUS DARWIN. Portrait. 78. 6d.
TIRYNS.
DR. SCHLIEMANN'S WORKS.
A Prehistoric Palace of the
Kings of Tiryns. Disclosed by
Excavations in 1884-85.
Illustrations. 42s.
ANCIENT MYCENÆ.
Discoveries and Researches on
the Sites of Mycena and Tiryns.
Illustrations. 50s.
TROJA.
Researches and Discoveries on
the Site of Homer's Troy, and
other Sites.
Illustrations. 42s.
ILIOS.
History of the City and Cou
try of the Trojans.
Illustrations. 50s.
Mr. Murray's List of New Publications. 21
The Speaker's Commentary.
A COMMENTARY ON THE HOLY BIBLE.
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL, WITH A REVISION
OF THE TRANSLATION.
BY BISHOPS AND CLERGY OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH.
Edited by F. C. COOK, M.A.
Canon of Exeter, and Chaplain to the Queen.
THE OLD TESTAMENT.
6 Vols. Medium 8vo.
£6 15s.
I. GENESIS-DEUTERONOMY. 30s.
II.-JOSHUA-I. KINGS. 205.
III. II. KINGS-ESTHER. 16s.
IV.-JOB-SOng of Solomon.
245.
V.-ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, LAMENTA-
TIONS. 205.
VI.-EZEKIEL-MALACHI. 25s.
THE NEW TESTAMENT.
4 Vols. Medium 8vo.
£4 145.
I.-SS. MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE.
18s.
II. ST. JOHN, Acts of the Apostles.
20s.
III.-ROMANS-PHILEMON.
285.
IV. HEBREWS-REVELATION. 28s.
* The following are sold separately:-BOOK OF PSALMS-ST. JOHN'S
GOSPEL, IOS. 6d. each.-EPISTLE TO THE Romans, 7s. 6d.
"There can be no question that the Speaker's
Commentary will supersede all older commentaries
for English readers, so far as an external commen-
tary is concerned."-Guardian.
"We regard these volumes as a specimen of
English scholarship of which we need not be
ashamed. The arrangement is admirable.'
Nonconformist.
LIST OF WRITERS:
ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.
BISHOPS JACKSON, HAROLD BROWNE,
LORD ARTHUR HERVEY, BASIL
JONES, JACOBSON, & ALEXander.
DEANS MANSEL, JOHNSON, PLUMPTRE,
PAYNE SMITH, HOWSON, SCOTT.
ARCHDEACONS LEE, ROSE.
CANONS WESTCOTT, ESPIN, RAWLINSON,
COOK, ELLIOTT, KAY, DRAKE, GIF-
FORD, EVANS, WAITE.
PROFESSORS GANDELL, LUMBY, FULLER.
PREBENDARIES CURREY, HUXTABLE,
KINGSBURY, MEYRICK, WACE, AND
BULLOCK.
REVS. S. CLARK & J. F. THRUPP.
STUDENT'S COMMENTARY ON THE
HOLY BIBLE.
ABRIDGED FROM THE SPEAKER'S COMMENTARY.
Edited by JOHN M. FULLER, M.A.,
Vicar of Bexley, and Professor of Ecclesiastical History, King's College, London.
6 Vols. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. each.
I. GENESIS TO DEUTERONOMY.
II. JOSHUA TO ESTHER.
III. JOB TO ECCLESIASTES.
rv.
IV. ISAIAH TO MALACHI.
V. GOSPELS AND ACTS.
VI. EPISTLES AND REVELATION.
The result of a careful examination of this new Commentary is in all respects satisfac-
The execution is as good as the idea-which is saying a great deal."—Church Bells.
"There can be no question that the Speaker's Commentary has marked an era in Biblical
rature, as the most successful of all scientific expositions of the Bible yet given to the public
in this abridgment we are glad to see the essential portion of the great original is
hfully preserved."-English Churchman.
ALBEMARLE STREET,
April, 1889.
Mr. Murray's
LIST OF
FORTHCOMING WORKS.
The Life of Alexander Pope.
By W. J. COURTHOPE, M.A.
With Engraving of the Bust by Roubiliac. 8vo.
*** Being the COMPLETING VOLUME of the WORKS, with a VERY
COPIOUS INDEX.
"The excellent edition of Pope, which is now approaching completion, not only supersedes
all its predecessors, but to a study of Pope's life and works is absolutely indispensable. .
"All that is valuable in the notes of previous editors is preserved; the super fluities and
errors only are omitted.
"
The new Prefaces and Notes contain an extraordinary amount of information, much of
which appears for the first time. It is impossible to praise too highly the patient care and
painstaking industry with which facts are sifted, omissions supplied, errors corrected. Equally
admirable is the ingenuity, combined with wide reading, that has elucidated many passages in
the life of the poet and contemporary allusions in his poetry, which were formerly regarded as
hopelessly obscure.
"
Mr. Elwin's chief contribution to the work was his treatment of the questions raised by
Pope's correspondence. In this edition are collected more than Four Hundred and Thirty new
letters, including letters from Caryll, Oxford, Orrery, Bolingbroke, Bathurst, Broome and
Fenton. The size and importance of this new collection would alone rank this edition above
its predecessors."—Edinburgh Review.
Among Cannibals.
FOUR YEARS' TRAVELS IN AUSTRALIA
AMONG THE LITTLE KNOWN SAVAGE. TRIBES IN
THE NORTH-EAST PART OF QUEENSLAND.
By CARL LUMHOLTZ; ´M.A.,
Member of the Scientific Academy of Christiania.
With Maps and 100 Illustrations.
Medium 8vo.
Mr. Murray's List of Forthcoming Works.
23
Dedicated by Permission to the Queen.
Authentic Portraits of Mary Queen
of Scots.
AN ATTEMPT TO DISTINGUISH THOSE TO BE RELIED UPON FROM
OTHERS INDISCRIMINATELY BEARING HER NAME,
AND TO DISPEL THE CONFUSED IDEAS THAT HAVE SO LONG
PREVAILED RESPECTING HER PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
By GEORGE SCHARF, C.B., F.S.A.,
Director and Secretary, National Portrait Gallery.
With Photogravure Illustrations, and Woodcuts. Large 8vo.
The Foundations of the Creed.
By HARVEY GOODWIN, D.D.,
Lord Bishop of Carlisle.
8vo.
The Viking Age.
THE EARLY HISTORY, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE
ANCESTORS OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING NATIONS.
ILLUSTRATED FROM
THE ANTIQUITIES DISCOVERED IN MOUNDS, CAIRNS, AND BOGS
AS WELL AS FROM THE ANCIENT SAGAS AND EDDAS.
By PAUL B. DU CHAILLU,
Author of "Equatorial Africa," "Land of the Midnight Sun," &c.
With 1400 Illustrations.
2 Vols. Medium 8vo.
The English Flower Garden.
STYLE, POSITION, AND ARRANGEMENT,
FOLLOWED BY A DESCRIPTION OF ALL THE BEST PLANTS FOR
IT, THEIR CULTURE AND ARRANGEMENT.
By WILLIAM ROBINSON, F.L.S.
d Edition Revised.
With many New Illustrations. Medium 8vo. 15s. [Ready.
24
Mr. Murray's List of Forthcoming Works.
Twelve Essays on the Cardinal Truths
of Christianity.
Edited by Rev. CHARLES GORE,
Principal of the Pusey House, Oxford.
By the following Writers:—
FAITH. Rev. HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND.
THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF GOD. Rev. AUBREY MOORE.
THE INCARNATION. Rev. J. R. ILLINGWORTH.
DOGMA. Rev. R. C. MOBERLY.
PREPARATION IN HISTORY FOR CHRIST. Rev. E. S. TALBOT, D.D.
THE ATONEMENT. The Hon. & Rev. A. LYTTLETON.
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND INSPIRATION. Rev. CHARLES Gore.
THE CHURCH. Rev. W. Lock.
THE SACRAMENTS. Rev. F. PAGET, D.D.
CHRISTIAN ETHICS. Rev. R. L. OTTLEY.
CHRISTIAN POLITICS.
Rev. W. J. CAMPION.
PROBLEM OF PAIN. Rev. J. R. ILLingworth.
One Volume. 8vo.
"Plain Frances
Frances Mowbray," Etc.
By the HON. EMILY LAWLESS,
Author of "" Hurrish," "Major Lawrence," &c.
Crown Sve.
A Dictionary of Hymnology.
SETTING FORTH THE
ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN HYMNS
ALL AGES AND NATIONS,
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THOSE CONTAINED IN THE
HYMN BOOKS OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES,
AND NOW IN COMMON USE;
OF
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL NOTICES OF THEIR AUTHORS AND
TRANSLATORS, AND HISTORICAL ARTICLES ON NATIONAL AND DENOMINATIONAL
HYMNODY, BREVIARIES, MISSALS, PRIMERS, PSALTERS, SEQUENCES, &C., &c.
BY VARIOUS WRITERS.
Edited by JOHN JULIAN, M.A.,
Vicar of Wincobank, Sheffield.
One Volume. Medium 8vo.
UNIFORM WITH DR. SMITH'S "DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE."
Mr. Murray's List of Forthcoming Works.
25
Comedy of a Country House.
A NOVEL.
By JULIAN STURGIS.
Author of "John a Dreams," "John Maidment."
2 Vols. Crown 8vo.
[In June.
An Introduction to the Study of
the New Testament.
AND AN INVESTIGATION INTO MODERN BIBLICAL CRITICISM.
By GEORGE SALMON, D.D.,
Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.
New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo.
We can promise the student that he will find in Dr. Salmon as unfailing esprit as in
Veuillot, though with no tinge of his abusiveness, or as in Renan, though historical truth be
never sacrificed to literary interest. We recommend the work before us as learned and
interesting in every page. It is a new bastion of formidable power in the Church's defences,
or rather let us say, it is a new buttress to the old house of God in which the Church's
children live at peace."-Church Quarterly Review.
The English Poor.
A SKETCH OF THEIR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY;
AND AN ATTEMPT TO ESTIMATE THE INFLUENCE OF
PRIVATE PROPERTY ON CHARACTER AND HABIT.
By THOMAS MACKAY, M.A.
Crown 8vo.
Occasional Thoughts of an Astronomer
By CHARLES PRITCHARD, D.D.,
Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford.
CONTENTS:~
CONTINUITY OF THE SCHEMES OF NATURE AND REVELATION.
NATURAL SCIENCE AND NATURAL RELIGION.
ON THE RELATIONS OF MIRACLES TO THE LAWS OF NATURE.
THE GREAT MIRACLE IN JOSHUA.
A SOLUTION OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN GENESIS.
THE SLOWNESS OF THE DIVINE PROCEEDINGS IN NATURE AND IN GRACE.
THE STAR AND THE Magi.
One Volume. 8vo.
26
Mr. Murray's List of Forthcoming Works.
The Ministry of Baptism.
A HISTORY OF CHURCH OPINION FROM THE TIME OF
THE APOSTLES.
ESPECIALLY WITH REFERENCE TO HERETICAL AND LAY
ADMINISTRATION.
By Rev. WARWICK ELWIN, M.A.
Curate of St. George s, Beckenham, Kent.
8vo.
A History of the Modern Styles of
Architecture.
By the late JAMES FERGUSSON, D.C.L. & F.R.S.
A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CONTINUED
By ROBERT KERR,
Professor of Architecture at King's College, London.
With Numerous Illustrations. Medium 8vo.
The Expression of the Emotions in
Men and Animals.
By CHARLES DARWIN.
New Edition, revised, with Illustrations. Crown Svo.
The Power of Movement in Plants.
By CHARLES DARWIN.
New and Cheaper Edition.
Crown 8vo.
Mr. Murray's List of Forthcoming Works. 27
The English Battles and Sieges in
the Peninsula.
EXTRACTED FROM NAPIER'S HISTORY OF THE
PENINSULAR WAR."
By Lieut.-General Sir WM. NAPIER, K.C.B.
A New and Cheaper Edition. With Portrait.
London;
Post 8vo, 5.
Its Historical Associations, Antiquarian and Modern.
ORIGINALLY COMPILED BY THE LATE PETER CUNNINGHAM, F.S.A.
A Library Edition, Revised, Re-written and Re-arranged.
By JAMES THORNE and H. B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A.
3 Vols. Medium 8vo.
The Student's History of the
Roman Empire.
FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE TO THE
ACCESSION OF COMMODUS, A.D. 180.
Post 8vo.
*** This work will take up the History at the point at which Dean Liddell leaves off, and
carry it down to the period at which Gibbon begins.
A Dictionary of Latin Etymology.
By JOHN K. INGRAM, LL.D.
Trinity College, Dublin.
One Volume. 8vo.
A Portable Handbook to the
English Cathedrals.
WITH A CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF EACH.
With Plans and Illustrations. One Volume.
Crown 8vo.
28
Mr. Murray's List of Forthcoming Works.
A Handbook for India,
BENGAL, BOMBAY, MADRAS, PUNJAB, &c.
A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR TRAVELLERS ALONG THE PRINCIPAL
ROUTES AND SUMMER RESORTS IN SIMLA, DARJEELING, &c..
One Volume. Maps and Plans. Post 8vo.
Handbook-South Germany, and Austria,
DANUBE
WURTEMBURG, BAVARIA, THE TYROL, AUSTRIA,
SALZBURG, STYRIA, HUNGARY, AND THE
FROM ULM TO THE BLACK SEA.
A New and Entirely Revised Edition. With Maps. Post 8vo.
Handbook-England and Wales.
ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED.
New and Revised Edition. One Volume. Map. Post 8vo.
Handbook-Durham and Northumberland.
New and Revised Edition. Map. Post 8vo.
Handbook-To the Lakes of Cumberland
and Westmoreland.
New and Revised Edition. Map. 8vo.
Handbook Huntingdon and Bedfordshire.
Map. Post 8vo.
Handbook-Lincolnshire.
With Maps. Post 8vo.
Bradbury, Agnew, & co., printers, whitefriar..
lish
1
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 05728 7230
`plabda da igaɛTO: # POMERILITIS ALTRERÍA 200"]M